iff!! 


itioii 


R. 


A  SUPPLEMENT, 

COMPRISING  THE  SEVEN  DRAMAS  WHICH  HAVE  BEEN  ASCRIBED  TO 
HIS  PEN,  BUT  WHICH  ARE  NOT  INCLUDED  WITH  HIS  WRITINGS 
IN  MODERN  EDITIONS. 

EDITED 

WITH  NOTES,  AND  AN  INTRODUCTION  TO  EACH  PLAY, 
BY  WILLIAM  GILMORE  SIMMS,  ESQ. 

IN    TWO   VOLUMES   ROY4.L    OCTAVO. 

NEW   YORK: 
PUBLISHED  BY  GEORGE  F.  COOLEDGE  &  BROTHER, 

323     PEAKt     STREET. 

LONDON  :    SCOTT,   WEBSTER,    &   GEARY. 


jfF  The  SUPPLEMENT  is  also  furnished  separately,  in  one  volume,  royal 
octavo  (cloth,  gilt),  for  those  who  wish  it  to  join  with  other  editions. 


ILLU 


SCHC 


"These  a 
adapted  to  i 
of  respect  e 


THE 

by  W. 

iQth  ec 

THE 

of  Vir 
3  vol.  j 

THE 

contai 
fore     p 


INCH 

compi' 
tratior 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 
MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


rably  j 
bjects 


2rno. 


TH, 

tions. 


VM, 

jrbe- 
1  vol. 


RY  : 

illus- 


THE       aivamc.r**?        ^r         ,,.^       ~_v_^ .ION 

OF  INDEPENDENCE  —  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES  OF 
THEIR  LIVES,  etc.  By  B.  J.  Lossing ;  with  Portraits,  &c.  1  vol. 
12mo. 

THE      LIFE      OF      BENJAMIN      FRANKLIN: 

by  O.  L.  Holley ;  with  illustrations.     1  vol.  12mo. 

THE  UIFE  OF  GENERAL  LA  FAYETTE  : 

by  William  Cutter;  with  illustrations.     1  vol.  12mo. 

This  Series  will  Toe  continued,  by  adding  other  volumes  of  the 
same  American  character. 

Published  by  GEO.  F.  COOLEDGE  &  BROTHER,  New  York, 
and  for  sale  by  the  principal  Booksellers  in  all  parts  of  the  Union. 


N  K  W 


THE    LIFE 


OF 


BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN. 


BY    O.    L.    HOLLEY. 


NEW    YORK: 
GEORGE    F.    COOLEDGE    &   BROTHER, 

PUBLISHERS     AND     BOOKSELLERS, 
323    PEARL    STREET. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1848, 

BY  GEORGE  F.  COOLEDGE  &  BROTHER, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  in  and  for 
the  Southern  District  of  New  York. 


STEREOTYPED    BY    C.    C.   SAVAGE, 
13  Chambers  Street,  N.  Y. 


E  302, 


PREFACE. 

FRANKLIN'S  own  narrative  of  his  life  extends  only  to  the  27th  of 
July,  1757,  the  day  on  which  he  reached  London,  on  his  first  mission 
as  agent  of  Pennsylvania  to  the  British  court.  He  was  then  but  little 
more  than  fifty-one  years  of  age,  so  that  nearly  thirty-three  years,  em 
bracing  the  most  conspicuous  portion  of  his  career,  was  left,  with  the 
exception  of  occasional  passages  in  his  private  correspondence,  un 
touched  by  his  own  graphic  pen ;  and  though  that  sequel  has  been 
ably  related  by  Dr.  Sparks,  yet  the  two  performances,  valuable  as  they 
are  universally  acknowledged  to  be,  are  both  strictly  narrative,  embra 
cing  little  but  the  recital  of  external  occurrences.  Well  done,  there 
fore,  as  they  are,  still  much  of  the  most  important  portion  of  Franklin's 
actual  life  —  that  inner  life  which  is  made  up  of  thoughts  and  feelings 
— the  unseen  workings  of  the  mind,  the  exercise  of  the  affections,  the 
development  of  character,  and  the  progress  of  opinion  —  is  either  left 
out  of  the  narration,  or  is  so  briefly  noticed,  that,  without  access  to  his 
correspondence  as  well  as  his  more  elaborate  productions,  but  scanty 
means  are  supplied  for  making  up  a  full  and  just  estimate  of  the  whole 
man,  the  wide  range  of  his  philosophical  inquiries,  or  of  his  accumula 
tions  of  various  knowledge,  or  of  the  number  and  value  of  his  political 
writings,  or  of  the  vast  amount  of  public  business  he  transacted,  or  of 
the  great  extent  and  importance  of  his  services  to  his  country. 

This  is  deemed  to  be  especially  true  in  relation  to  his  political  servi 
ces  and  writings  prior  to  the  American  revolution.  Few,  comparatively, 
of  the  present  generation,  it  is  believed,  are  aware  of  the  position  which 
Franklin  really  occupied  during  the  twenty  years  preceding  our  revolu 
tionary  struggle  or  of  the  high  rank  he  held  as  a  public  man,  and  the 
extent  to  which  the  principles  and  arguments  on  which  that  struggle  was 
based,  proceeded  from  his  mind,  or  were  unfolded  and  enforced  by  his 
pen.  Indeed,  as  to  the  community  of  this  day,  generally,  it  may,  I  sus 
pect,  be  fairly  said,  that  little  more  is  known  of  Franklin  than  that  he 
was  a  remarkably  ingenious  tradesman,  who,  having  a  turn  for  philo- 


PREFACE. 

sophical  experiments,  particularly  in  electricity,  discovered  its  identity 
with  lightning ;  and  was,  besides,  an  uncommonly  sagacious  man  in 
regard  to  the  prudent  management  of  private  affairs,  who  left  behind 
him  many  wise  maxims  for  the  regulation  of  private  life. 

The  labors  of  Dr.  Sparks  have,  it  is  true,  shown  how  inadequate  is 
such  an  idea  of  Franklin  ;  but  the  rich  and  ample  collection  of  his  wri 
tings,  made  by  that  gentleman,  is  beyond  the  reach  of  the  great  majority 
of  the  people,  especially  of  the  younger  portion  of  them,  who,  necessa 
rily  engaged  in  the  toilsome  occupations  of  life,  have  little  leisure  for 
study,  and  but  limited  means  for  supplying  themselves  with  books. 

It  is,  therefore,  for  this  portion  of  my  countrymen  that  I  have  ven 
tured  to  prepare  this  work.  By  condensing  the  account  of  some  por 
tions  of  Franklin's  life,  and  by  leaving  to  history  the  full  recital  of  his 
political  and  diplomatic  services,  I  have  thought  room  might  be  found, 
within  the  compass  of  a  single  volume,  to  present  a  more  complete,  though 
still  a  compendious  view  of  Franklin's  life,  character,  and  labors  —  of 
what  he  was,  as  well  as  what  he  did,  throughout  his  entire  career  — 
than  has  yet  been  furnished  in  a  merely  biographical  form.  I  have 
thus  endeavored  to  present  a  full-length  portrait,  though  it  be  less  than 
the  size  of  life.  In  doing  this,  I  have  dwelt  with  more  minuteness  upon 
the  methods  by  which  he  improved  his  powers,  than  upon  the  specific 
results  attained,  though  these  have  not  been  overlooked  —  more  upon 
the  processes  by  which  he  qualified  himself  to  be  useful  to  his  country 
and  mankind,  than  upon  the  particular  rewards  which  crowned  his 
services ;  and  I  have  pursued  this  course,  in  the  belief  that  the  lessons 
his  life  presents  would  thus  be  rendered  more  available  for  the  benefit 
of  others,  and  be  more  durably  impressed. 

O.  L.  HOLIET. 
August  1, 1848. 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  I. 
Introductory  Remarks.— Birth  of  Franklin.— Occupations  of  his  Boy- 


hood.— Love  of  Reading      .         .        •        ...        .        PAGE 

CHAPTER  II. 

He  becomes  a  Printer.— First  Efforts  as  a  Writer.— Collins.— Mode 
of  forming  his  Style.— Way  of  Life.— Mental  Habits  ...  1 

CHAPTER  III. 

His  Brother's  Newspaper.— Difficulties  with  the  Government  and 
with  his  Brother.— Leaves  Boston  for  New.  York  ....  30 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Proceeds  to  Philadelphia.— Incidents  of  his  Journey     .        .        •        -37 

CHAPTER  V. 

First  Appearance  in  Philadelphia.— Employed  by  Keimer.— Noticed 
by  Governor  Keith,  who  urges  him  to  open  a  Printing-Office.— Goes 
to  his  Father  for  Aid 42 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Reception  at  Home,  and  at  his  Brother's  Office.— His  Father  refuses 
Aid,  but  treats  him  kindly.— Returns  to  Philadelphia.— Incidents 
by  the  Way 52 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Connection  with  Collins.— Governor  Keith's  Professions.— Miss  Read     61 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

His  Associates  and  Way  of  Life.— Keith  induces  him  to  go  to  Lon 
don  for  Types,  &c. 71 

1* 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Arrives  in  London. — Keith's  Perfidy. — Mr.  Denham. — Works  at  his 
Trade. — Ralph. — New  Associates. — Sir  Hans  Sloane  .  PAGE  79 

CHAPTER  X. 

His  Way  of  Life. — New  Lodgings. — An  English  Nun. — Art  of  Swim 
ming. — Becomes  Clerk  to  Mr.  Denham 92 

CHAPTER  XL 
Leaves  London. — Isle  of  Wight. — Voyage  Home        ....  105 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Changes  in  Philadelphia. — Letter  to  his  Sister  Jane. — Mercantile 
Affairs. — Death  of  Mr.  Denham. — Returns  to  his  Trade. — Keimer 
and  his  Workmen. — Jersey  Paper-Money  .....  120 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Arrives  at  Manhood. — His  Opinions  and  Character. — Commences  Bu 
siness  with  Meredith. — The  Junto 133 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Usefulness  of  the  Junto. — Its  Members. — Franklin's  Industry. — Pri 
vate  "Worship. — Establishes  a  Newspaper. — Its  Character  .  .  145 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Public  Printing. — Partnership  with  Meredith  dissolved. — Two  True 
Friends. — Paper-Money. — Growing  Reputation  ....  160 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

Rivals  in  Business. — A  Match-making  Scheme  fails. — He  Marries. — 
A  Library  established. — Domestic  Affairs. — Religious  Views. — 
Plan  of  Self-discipline 176 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Project  for  the  Moral  Improvement  of  Society. — Poor  Richard's  Alma 
nac.— Way  to  Wealth 200 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

His  Newspaper  Essays. — First  Printing-Office  in  Charleston,  South 
Carolina. — Defence  of  a  young  Clergyman. — Acquires  several  Lan 
guages. — Visits  his  Relations. — Loses  a  Child. — Clerk  of  Assembly, 
Postmaster,  Public  Printer. — City  Improvements  ....  220 


CONTENTS.  7 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

Whitefield. — Religious  Views. — New  Partnerships. — Promotion  of 
Education  and  Science. — New  Store. — Military  Association. — The 
Quakers PAGE  237 

CHAPTER  XX. 

Academy  founded. — His  Writings  and  Philosophical  Pursuits. — Pub 
lic  Business. — Indian  Treaty. — Colonial  Postmaster-General. — Al 
bany  Convention. — Plan  of  Union. — Western  Settlement. — Provin 
cial  Government  — Crown  Point 257 

CHAPTER  XXL 

Aids  General  Braddock. — Protects  the  Frontier. — Gnadenhutten. — 
Private  Sentiments  and  Family  Ties. — Military  Arrangements. — 
Governor  Denny. — Royal  Society's  Medal. — Proprietary  Instruc 
tions. — Lord  Loudon. — First  Mission  to  England  ....  284 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

Grievances  of  Pennsylvania. — Remonstrance  to  Proprietaries. — Mis 
representations  Exposed. — Cause  prepared  for  Hearing. — Excur 
sions  in  England. — Family  Connections. — Canada. — Visits  Scotland. 
Mr.  Strahan. — Marriage  Proposed. — Miss  Stevenson  and  her  Stud 
ies. — Political  Abuse. — Pennsylvania's  Share  of  Indemnity  Money 
from  Parliament 315 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

Pamphlet  on  Canada. — Pennsylvania  Case  decided. — Tour  in  Eng 
land  and  Wales.— New  Words.— Natural  History.— Philosophical 
Topics. — Tour  in  Holland. — Art  of  Virtue. — Latent  Heat. — Water 
vaporized  by  Electricity. — Points  and  Knobs. — Armonica. — Literary 
Honors. — Return  Home 343 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Services  Acknowledged. — Journey  North  and  East. — Militia  Bill. — 
Conestogo  Indians. — Imbecility  of  Governor  Perm. — Franklin  up 
holds  the  Public  Authority. — Confutes  his  Enemies. — His  Second 
Mission  to  England. — Origin  of  the  Stamp- Act. — Dean  Tucker. — 
Reception  of  Stamp- Act  in  America. — Examination  before  the 
House  of  Commons. — Stamp-Act  Repealed. — Value  of  his  Services. 
Old  Scottish  Tunes  .  371 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

Visit  to  the  Continent.— True  Relations  of  America  to  England.— 
Visits  Paris. — Changes  in  the  Cabinet. — Lord  Hillsborough. — Visit 
to  Ireland. — Lightning  rods  for  Powder  Magazines. — He  advises 
Firmness  and  Moderation  in  America. — The  Hutchinson  Letters. — 
Ineffectual  Attempts  at  Conciliation. — Returns  Home  .  PAGE  417 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

Death  of  his  Wife. — Congress  and  Public  Business. — Mission  to 
France. — Residence  at  Paris.— Return  to  America. — Constitution 
of  the  United  States. — Death  and  Character  of  Franklin  .  .  447 


THE    LIFE 


OP 


BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 


CHAPTER    I. 

HIS    BIRTH    AND    BOYHOOD. 

No  man,  probably,  was  ever  more  eminently  and  uni 
formly  successful,  throughout  the  whole  of  a  very  long 
life,  in  attaining  the  chief  objects  of  human  pursuit,  than 
Benjamin  Franklin.  Of  humble  origin,  with  no  early 
opportunities  of  education  beyond  the  simplest  rudi 
ments  of  knowledge,  bred  a  tradesman,  and  compelled 
by  the  narrowness  of  his  circumstances  to  labor  with 
his  own  hands  for  his  daily  bread,  he  nevertheless  won 
for  himself  an  ample  estate,  an  illustrious  reputation,  and 
distinguished  public  honors. 

Nor  was  his  success  the  result,  in  any  proper  sense, 
of  what  is  commonly  called  accident,  or  mere  good  for 
tune,  any  more  than  it  was  the  consequences  of  advan 
tages  derived  from  high  birth  and  powerful  connections. 
It  was,  on  the  contrary,  in  a  remarkable  degree,  the  di 
rect  and  visible  effect  of  those  causes,  chiefly  of  a  moral 
kind,  which,  for  the  encouragement  of  honest  effort  and 
virtuous  enterprise,  a  wise  Providence  has  established 
as  the  most  worthy  and  legitimate  means  of  attaining 


10  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

success  in  this  life  ;  for  he  was,  through  the  favor  with 
which  that  Providence  regards  such  means,  the  founder 
and  builder  of  his  own  prosperity. 

His  success  in  the  acquisition  of  property  was  the 
just  recompense  of  his  vigorous  industry,  his  frugality, 
temperance,  prudence,  integrity,  punctuality,  enlight 
ened  and  sound  judgment,  civil  manners,  respect  for 
himself  as  well  as  for  others,  and  his  frank  and  manly 
deportment.  All  these  qualities  marked  his  conduct  in 
the  transaction  of  business,  and  in  his  general  inter 
course  with  his  fellow-men ;  and  by  securing  general 
confidence,  esteem,  and  good  will,  they  were  all  instru 
mental  to  his  prosperity. 

His  success  in  the  pursuit  of  literature  and  science, 
and  in  the  acquisition  of  fame  as  a  philosopher,  was 
also  the  consequence,  at  least  in  part,  of  some  of  the 
same  qualities.  For,  although  he  could  not  have  at 
tained  the  high  distinction  he  ultimately  enjoyed  as  a 
writer  and  a  philosopher,  without  the  great  natural  abil 
ities  with  which  he  was  endowed,  yet,  without  his  ac 
tive  and  persevering  spirit,  his  industrious,  frugal,  tem 
perate,  methodical,  and  time-saving  habits,  even  his 
great  talents  would  have  been  far  less  available,  and  his 
philosophical  genius  could  not  have  accomplished  so 
much. 

His  success  in  political  affairs,  and  in  the  acquisition 
of  public  honors,  was  also  the  natural  result,  not  merely 
of  his  talents  associated  with  the  other  attributes  al 
ready  mentioned,  but  also  of  additional  causes  inherent 
in  his  character — of  his  genuine  public  spirit,  his  zeal 
in  applying  himself  to  understand  the  real  condition 
of  public  affairs,  and  the  intelligence  and  fidelity  with 
which  he  performed  the  duties  of  every  public  station 
in  which  he  was  placed ;  of  his  thorough  comprehen 
sion  of  the  political  and  civil  rights  and  privileges  of  the 


BIRTH    AND    PARENTAGE.  11 

people  whom  he  served,  his  sagacious  and  sound  views 
of  their  true  interests,  arid  the  steady  firmness  with 
which  he  maintained  and  promoted  those  interests ;  of 
his  moderation,  candor,  and  love  of  truth  and  justice ; 
his  respect  for  law  and  for  all  lawful  authority ;  his 
stanch  patriotism,  and  the  unsurpassed  moral  weight 
and  influence  of  his  character. 

Such  were  the  sources  of  his  success,  and  the  ele 
ments  of  his  greatness.  Such  were  the  causes  of  that 
steady,  rapid,  and  almost  wholly  uninterrupted  advance 
from  poverty  to  wealth,  from  obscurity  to  renown,  by 
which  his  career  was  so  remarkably  distinguished ;  and 
which  not  only  rendered  that  career,  during  its  prog 
ress,  so  honorable  to  himself  and  so  useful  to  his  coun 
try  and  mankind,  but  have  for  ever  sealed  it  as  an  exam 
ple,  especially  to  his  own  countrymen,  rich  beyond 
parallel  in  lessons  of  practical  wisdom  for  all,  of  every 
age,  calling,  and  condition  in  life,  public  and  private,  in 
every  coming  generation. 

Benjamin  Franklin  was  born  in  Boston,  Massachu 
setts,  on  the  6th  of  January,  old  style,  equivalent  to  the 
17th  of  that  month,  according  to  the  present  reckoning 
of  time  or  the  new  style,  in  the  year  1706.  His  father, 
Josiah  Franklin,  was  a  native  of  the  village  of  Ecton, 
in  Northamptonshire,  England  ;  but  he  married  his  first 
wife,  at  an  early  age,  in  Banbury,  in  the  neighboring 
county  of  Oxford,  where  he  served  his  apprenticeship 
as  a  wool-dyer,  with  his  uncle  John  Franklin,  and  where 
his  first  three  children  were  born.  In  the  year  1684, 
or  early  in  1685,  in  consequence  of  the  intolerant  and 
oppressive  laws  of  that  country  respecting  religion  and 
public  worship,  he  emigrated  with  his  family  to  Boston, 
Massachusetts,  where  four  more  children  were  borne  to 
him  by  the  same  wife.  After  her  decease,  he  married 
Abiah  Folger,  born  August  loth,  1667,  the  ninth  child, 


12  -LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

but  the  seventh  daughter,  of  Peter  Folger  and  his  wife 
Mary,  in  the  town  of  Sherburn,  on  the  island  of  Nan- 
tucket.  By  this  second  wife,  Josiah  Franklin  had  ten 
children,  making  the  whole  number  seventeen  ;  ten  of 
whom  were  sons,  and  seven  daughters.  Of  these,  Ben 
jamin  was  the  fifteenth  child  and  the  youngest  son  ;  and 
in  the  very  entertaining  and  instructive  narrative  of  his 
life,  written  by  himself  as  far  as  to  the  fifty-first  year  of 
his  age,  he  states  the  interesting  and  uncommon  fact, 
that,  of  those  seventeen  children,  he  had  seen  sitting  to 
gether  at  his  father's  table  thirteen,  who  all  grew  up  to 
years  of  maturity  and  were  married. 

According  to  the  wise  and  wholesome  usage  of  those 
times,  the  nine  elder  sons,  as  they  successively  arrived 
at  a  proper  age,  were  bound  by  their  father  as  appren 
tices  to  different  trades,  though  by  no  means  to  the 
neglect  of  such  instruction  in  the  elements  of  useful 
knowledge,  as  could  be  imparted  in  those  schools  which 
it  was  the  early  care  of  the  founders  of  New  England 
to  establish. 

With  Benjamin,  however,  it  was  his  father's  original 
intention  to  take  a  different  course.  The  boy  had  ex 
hibited  a  rare  facility  in  learning  to  read.  His  profi 
ciency  in  this  particular  was  so  remarkable,  that  he 
states,  at  the  age  of  sixty-five  years,  in  his  own  account 
of  his  life,  that  he  was  unable  to  recollect  a  time  when 
he  could  not  read.  His  fondness  for  books,  together 
with  his  eagerness  for  knowledge  and  other  indications 
of  bright  parts,  prompted  a  disposition  in  his  father  "to 
devote  Benjamin,  as  the  tithe  of  his  sons,  to  the  service 
of  the  church."  With  this  view,  Benjamin,  at  the  age 
of  eight  years,  was  sent  to  a  grammar-school,  where 
his  progress  was  such  as  to  justify  the  impression  his 
early  docility  had  made  upon  his  friends  ;  for,  in  less 
than  a  year,  having  risen  from  the  middle  of  the  class 


HfS    SCHOOL-DAYS.  13 

in  which  he  was  first  placed,  to  its  head,  he  was  trans 
ferred  to  the  next  class  above,  from  which  he  was  to  be 
removed  to  a  still  higher  one,  at  the  end  of  the  year. 

But  narrow  circumstances  and  a  large  family  soon 
made  it  apparent  to  his  father,  that  the  long  course  of 
study  at  the  grammar-school  and  college,  which  would 
be  requisite  to  give  his  son  a  suitable  preparation  for 
the  contemplated  profession,  would  involve  an  expense 
which  he  would  be  unable  to  meet,  without  very  great 
difficulty,  if  at  all.  Besides,  on  looking  more  closely 
into  the  matter,  he  thought  the  proposed  profession  af 
forded,  as  he  remarked  to  a  friend,  in  the  presence  of 
Benjamin,  "but  little  encouragement  to  those  who  were 
educated  for  that  line  of  life."  These  considerations 
induced  his  father  to  abandon  his  original  design  ;  and 
taking  the  boy  from  the  grammar-school  before  a  year 
had  expired,  he  placed  him  in  a  school  devoted  exclu 
sively  to  writing  and  arithmetic,  kept  by  a  Mr.  George 
Brownwell,  who  had  gained  much  reputation  as  a  teacher 
of  those  two  essential  branches  of  a  practical  business 
education,  and  who,  as  Franklin  himself  testifies,  was 
"  a  skilful  master,  and  successful  in  his  profession,  em 
ploying  the  mildest  and  most  encouraging  methods." 
In  this  school  the  lad  became  an  excellent  penman ;  but, 
to  cite  his  own  confession,  he  "  entirely  failed  in  arith 
metic." 

Benjamin  appears  to  have  remained  under  the  tuition 
of  Mr.  Brownwell  about  twelve  months,  or  the  greater 
part  of  his  ninth  year.  This  was  the  last  of  his  going 
to  school ;  for,  on  his  reaching  his  tenth  year,  his  father 
transferred  him  to  his  own  business,  as  a  tallowchandler 
and  soapboiler,  to  which  business,  though  not  bred  to  it, 
his  father  had  betaken  himself,  on  finding  that,  in  the 
community  where  he  had  fixed  his  new  home,  his  trade 
as  a  dyer,  tu  which  he  had  been  regularly  trained  in 

2 


14  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

England,  would  not  yield  him  employment  enough  for 
the  support  of  his  family.  Benjamin's  occupation,  now, 
was  cutting  caiidlewicks  and  fitting  them  to  the  moulds, 
tending  shop,  and  running  upon  errands. 

These  employments,  however,  were  exceedingly  dis 
tasteful  to  him ;  and  a  strong  desire  sprung  up  in  him 
to  go  to  sea.  Having  an  active,  enterprising  spirit,  and 
living  near  the  water,  he  often  resorted  to  it  for  both 
amusement  and  exercise,  and  grew  familiar  with  it  and 
fond  of  it.  He  very  early  made  himself  an  expert  and 
bold  swimmer,  and  so  dexterous  in  managing  a  boat, 
that  whenever  he  and  his  playmates  were  enjoying 
themselves  in  that  way,  he  was  "  commonly  allowed  to 
govern,  especially  in  case  of  difficulty."  Indeed,  in  the 
various  enterprises  in  which  he  and  his  young  comrades 
were  engaged,  he  was  generally  the  leader.  One  of 
these  enterprises  he  relates,  "  as  it  shows,"  to  use  his 
own  words,  "  an  early  projecting  public  spirit,  though 
not  then  justly  directed;"  and  inasmuch  as  it  serves  to 
exemplify  that  ready  ingenuity  in  devising  means  to 
overcome  difficulties,  which  subsequently  developed  it 
self  to  such  a  degree  as  to  constitute  one  of  the  marked 
traits  of  his  character,  his  own  sprightly  account  of  the 
performance  in  question  is  here  copied. 

"  There  was,"  he  relates,  "  a  salt-marsh  which  bound 
ed  part  of  the  millpond,  on  the  edge  of  which,  at  high- 
water,  we  used  to  stand  to  fish  for  minnows.  By  much 
trampling  we  had  made  it  a  mere  quagmire.  My  pro 
posal  was  to  build  a  wharf  there  for  us  to  stand  upon ; 
and  I  showed  my  comrades  a  large  heap  of  stones,  which 
were  intended  for  a  new  house  near  the  marsh,  and 
which  would  very  well  suit  our  purpose.  Accordingly, 
in  the  evening,  when  the  workmen  were  gone  home,  I 
assembled  a  number  of  my  playfellows,  and  we  worked 
diligently,  like  so  many  emmets,  sometimes  two  or  three 


EARLY    ENTERPRISE.  15 

to  a  stone,  till  we  brought  them  all,  to  make  our  little 
wharf.  The  next  morning  the  workmen  were  surprised 
at  missing  the  stones,  which  had  formed  our  wharf.  In 
quiry  was  made  after  the  authors  of  this  transfer :  we 
were  discovered,  complained  of,  and  corrected  by  our 
fathers  ;  and,  though 'I  demonstrated  the  utility  of  our 
work,  mine  convinced  me  that  that  which  was  not  honest, 
could  not  be  truly  useful." 

Benjamin  continued  in  his  father's  shop,  variously 
employed  as  already  stated,  for  two  years,  but  with  a 
continually  growing  dislike  to  his  situation  ;  and  as  his 
brother  John,  who  had  been  trained  to  the  same  busi 
ness,  had  recently  married  and  gone  to  Rhode  Island, 
to  establish  himself  there  as  a  chandler,  on  his  own  ac 
count,  the  probability  seemed,  to  the  impatient  Benja 
min,  fast  verging  to  certainty  that  he  was  fated  perma 
nently  to  this  calling.  His  father,  who  had  not  failed 
to  observe  his  strong  repugnance  to  this  employment, 
and  his  restiffness  at  the  prospect  of  continuing  in  it, 
began  to  feel  alarmed  lest  his  youngest,  like  Josiah.  one 
of  his  elder  sons,  should  gratify  his  inclination  by  break 
ing  away  clandestinely  and  going  to  sea.  Such  an  event 
would  have  been  a  great  grief  to  his  parents  ;  and  to 
prevent  it,  his  father  earnestly  sought  to  ascertain  what 
occupation  would  be  most  likely  to  suit  his  disposition, 
and  keep  him  in  content,  safety,  and  usefulness,  at 
home.  With  this  view,  he  frequently  took  the  lad  out 
with  him  to  the  workshops  of  the  different  classes  of 
mechanics  in  town,  in  the  hope  of  discovering,  in  this 
way,  the  leading  inclination  of  his  son,  in  reference  to  a 
point  of  such  grave  concern  as  that  of  fixing  on  a  pur 
suit  for  life. 

These  visits  to  the  workshops  were  very  gratifying  to 
the  inquisitive  and  observant  spirit  of  young  Benjamin. 
In  speaking  of  them,  in  his  own  narrative  of  his  life,  he 


16  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

declares  that  "  it  was  ever  after  a  pleasure  to  him  to  see 
a  good  workman  handle  his  tools."  He  adds,  also,  the 
more  important  remark,  that  he  derived  from  these  vis 
its  the  benefit  of  knowing  how  to  handle  some  of  those 
tools  himself;  sufficiently  well,  at  least,  to  execute  va 
rious  small  pieces  of  work  about  his  own  premises,  when 
a  regular-bred  mechanic  was  not  conveniently  to  be  pro 
cured  ;  and  especially  did  he  thus  secure  for  himself  the 
still  more  material  advantage  of  being  able  to  construct 
various  kinds  of  apparatus,  for  aiding  his  philosophical 
investigations,  at  the  moment  when  some  scientific  con 
ception,  the  principle  it  involved,  and  the  experiment 
which  would  illustrate  it,  were  all  fresh  and  clear  in  his 
mind. 

This  testimony  is  instructive  and  valuable.  The  ob 
servations  made,  and  the  hints  received,  during  those 
visits  of  the  boy,  worked  like  leaven  among  the  thoughts 
of  the  man.  The  history  of  Franklin's  philosophical 
inquiries,  no  less  than  his  career  as  a  tradesman,  abounds 
with  evidence  of  his  mechanical  ingenuity,  and  of  the 
dexterity  with  which  he  could  contrive  and  arrange  the 
apparatus  necessary  to  test  the  correctness  of  new  ideas 
as  they  occurred  to  him.  Thus,  with  him,  speculation 
and  experiment  were  enabled  to  go  forward  hand  in 
hand  ;  inquiry  was  facilitated  ;  time  was  not  vainly  con 
sumed  in  vague  untested  conjecture ;  conclusions  were 
not  only  reached  more  promptly,  but  were  rendered 
more  exact  and  satisfactory ;  and  the  progress  of  actual 
knowledge  was  expedited.  It  seems,  moreover,  easy  to 
discern,  in  the  circumstances  mentioned,  the  origin,  at 
least  in  part,  of  that  striking  and  characteristic  tendency 
of  his  mind,  to  give  a  practical  turn  to  his  most  abstruse 
theoretical  ideas,  and  to  regard  as  the  best  criterion  of  the 
value  of  all  philosophical  studies,  the  extent  to  which 
they  can  be  rendered  subservient  to  the  wants,  the  com- 


MECHANICAL    INGENUITY.  17 

forts,  the  improvement,  and  the  happiness  of  his  fellow- 
men. 

The  choice  of  a  trade,  which,  as  the  result  of  the  walks 
among  the  artisans  of  Boston,  the  father  made  for  the 
son,  was  that  of  cutler  ;  and  in  pursuance  of  that  choice, 
Benjamin  was  placed  for  a  short  time,  by  way  of  trial, 
with  his  cousin  Samuel  Franklin,  son  of  his  uncle  Ben 
jamin,  brought  up  to  the  business  in  London,  and  recent 
ly  established  in  Boston.  But  the  sum  demanded  for 
the  apprentice's  fee,  the  father  thought  unreasonable ; 
and  it  displeased  him  so  much,  that  he  took  his  son 
home  again. 

So  this  project  for  the  welfare  of  the  son,  to  which 
his  father  had  been  led  by  somewhat  artificial  means, 
fell  to  the  ground ;  and  the  trade  which  Benjamin  actu 
ally  followed  —  that  of  a  printer  —  was  shortly  after  se 
lected  for  the  same  general  reason,  which  had  originally 
prompted  in  his  father  the  desire  to  devote  him  to  the 
clerical  profession ;  a  reason  founded  on  inclinations 
and  capacities,  which  spontaneously  developed  them 
selves,  when  there  was  nothing  to  interfere  with  the  sim 
ple  force  of  nature  in  the  one,  or  to  bias  the  judgment 
of  the  other ;  and  which  were,  therefore,  a  safer  guide 
to  the  choice  of  a  pursuit  for  life.  That  reason  was 
what  Franklin  himself  called  his  "bookish  inclination." 
From  his  earliest  childhood  he  had  been  "  passionately 
fond  of  reading;"  and  the  little  sums  of  money  he  ob 
tained  were  all  expended  in  purchasing  books.  His  first 
acquisition,  he  says,  was  a  cheap  set  of  Bunyan's  works; 
and  when  he  had  read  these,  he  sold  them,  that  he  might, 
with  the  proceeds,  procure  others,  especially  works  of 
history  and  biography.  The  few  books  that  belonged 
to  his  father  contained  little  but  polemical  divinity,  a 
very  unattractive  sort  of  reading  to  most  people,  espe 
cially  the  young  ;  but  Benjamin's  appetite  was  keen 


LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

enough  for  the  greater  part  even  of  that.  Fortunately, 
however,  he  found  also,  on  the  same  shelves,  Plutarch's 
Lives,  which  he  read  with  more  avidity  as  well  as  profit; 
An  Essay  on  Projects,  by  Daniel  De  Foe,  an  English 
man,  the  author  of  the  famous  Adventures  of  Robinson 
Crusoe;  and  An  Essay  to  do  Good,  by  the  celebrated 
Cotton  Mather  of  Boston.  In  speaking  of  these  works, 
he  intimates  the  belief  that  the  reading  of  the  two  essays 
mentioned,  gave  him  a  turn  of  thinking  which  probably 
exerted  an  influence  upon  some  of  the  principal  events 
of  his  subsequent  life. 


APPRENTICED    TO    HIS    BROTHER.  19 


CHAPTER  II. 

HE    BECOMES    A    PRINTER. 

BENJAMIN  was  now  twelve  years  old.  There  being 
no  type-foundry  in  the  colony,  his  brother  James,  during 
the  preceding  year,  1717,  had  been  to  England  to  pro 
cure  the  necessary  apparatus  for  a  printing-office,  and 
on  his  return  had  established  himself  in  Boston,  as  a 
printer;  and  his  father,  still  anxious  lest  Benjamin,  in 
his  unsettled  and  discontented  state  of  mind,  might 
gratify  that  "  hankering  for  the  sea,"  which  continued 
as  strong  in  him  as  ever,  was  now  very  urgent  to  have 
him  regularly  apprenticed  to  James.  As  this  propo 
sal  was  far  more  agreeable  to  the  lad  than  remaining 
in  the  chandler's  shop,  he  at  length,  after  much  solicita 
tion,  yielded  to  the  wishes  of  his  father ;  and  in  the 
course  of  the  year  he  was  duly  indentured  as  an  ap 
prentice  to  his  brother,  so  to  continue  till  he  should  be 
twenty-one  years  old,  and,  for  the  closing  year  of  the 
term,  to  be  paid  the  full  wages  of  a  journeyman. 

He  took  readily  to  his  new  employment,  and  soon  be 
came  so  expert  in  it  as  to  be  exceedingly  useful  to  his 
brother.  A  freer  access  to  a  wider  range  of  reading 
helped,  very  materially,  to  increase  his  content  with  the 
situation,  which  thus  contributed  to  gratify  one  of  his 
strongest  propensities.  His  intercourse  with  the  ap- 


20  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

prentices  of  booksellers,  gave  him  more  frequent  op 
portunities  to  borrow ;  and  he  had  the  prudence  and 
good  sense  to  preserve  this  privilege,  by  losing  no  time 
in  reading  the  books  thus  obtained,  and  promptly  return 
ing  them  in  good  condition.  "Often,"  says  he,  "I  sat 
up  in  my  chamber  reading  the  greatest  part  of  the  night, 
when  the  book  was  borrowed  in  the  evening  to  be  re 
turned  in  the  morning,  lest  it  should  be  found  missing;" 
and  he  further  relates  that  he  was  greatly  favored,  in 
this  particular,  by  the  kindness  of  a  neighboring  mer 
chant,  "  an  ingenious  and  sensible  man,"  named  Mat 
thew  Adams,  who,  in  his  frequent  visits  to  the  print 
ing-office,  finding  his  attention  peculiarly  attracted  to 
Benjamin,  invited  him  to  see  his  library,  and  of  his  own 
accord  proffered  him  the  loan  of  any  books  it  contained, 
which  he  might  wish  to  read. 

At  this  period,  moreover,  as  he  relates,  a  strong  in 
clination  for  poetry  took  possession  of  him,  and  he  wrote 
some  small  pieces.  His  brother  James,  thinking  it 
might  be  directed  to  the  advantage  of  his  business,  en 
couraged  the  propensity.  Of  the  performances  of  our 
apprentice-muse,  about  that  time  presented  to  the  pub 
lic,  two  ballads  only  are  specially  named.  One  of  them, 
entitled,  "  The  Light-House  Tragedy"  recorded  and 
bewailed  the  shipwreck  of  one  Captain  Worthilake, 
with  two  daughters  ;  and  the  other  sung  the  capture  of 
a  truculent  pirate  named  Teach,  but  better  known  to 
fame  by  the  more  impressive  and  appropriate  appella 
tion  of  Black-Beard.  He  pronounces  them  "  wretched 
stuff;"  but  they  were  printed,  and  the  author,  not  known 
as  such,  however,  except  only  to  himself  and  his  brother, 
was  sent  forth  to  hawk  them  about  the  streets.  The  tra 
gedy  "sold  prodigiously,"  for  the  disaster  was  recent, 
well  known,  and  affecting.  His  father,  however,  soon 
took  down  the  vanity  of  the  young  ball  ad- writer,  by 


MENTAL    HABITS,  21 

his  plain  and  searching  criticism,  and  by  telling  him 
that  "  verse-makers  were  generally  beggars." 

Though  rescued  thus  from  the  perils  of  rhyme,  he 
felt  nevertheless  a  strong  propensity  to  employ  his  pen ; 
and  the  method,  which,  incited  by  a  generous  ambition, 
he  now  pursued  in  order  to  attain  a  ready  command  of 
his  mother-tongue,  and  to  form  that  clear,  flowing,  and 
happy  prose  style,  for  which  he  afterward  became  dis- 
tinoriished,  and  which  proved  one  of  the  most  efficient 
means  of  advancing  his  fortunes,  was  so  well  conceived, 
so  practical,  so  remarkable  in  a  youth  but  little  more 
than  twelve  years  old,  and  for  that  reason  among  others 
so  valuable  as  an  example,  that  a  somewhat  particular 
account  of  the  method  ought  not  to  be  omitted. 

One  of  Benjamin's  most  intimate  companions  at  this 
time,  was  another  "bookish  lad"  by  the  name  of  John 
Collins.  They  both  had  an  itch  for  arguing,  which 
grew  into  a  disputatious  habit,  and  led  to  frequent  and 
eager  struggles  for  victory.  This  habit,  as  he  admits,  is 
by  no  means  a  desirable  one,  and  he  subsequently  cor 
rected  it  in  himself  entirely;  but  it  served,  at  the  time,  to 
stimulate  him  to  the  assiduous  employment  of  his  pen, 
and  was,  in  part,  the  means,  aided  again  by  his  judicious 
father,  of  leading  him  to  the  practice  which  he  soon  re 
sorted  to,  for  improving  his  style  and  enlarging  his  com 
mand  of  language. 

In  the  course  of  his  discussions  with  Collins,  the  old 
question  was  started,  whether  the  capacities  of  females 
fitted  them  for  the  more  profound  and  abstruse  sciences, 
and  whether  such  sciences  should  be  made  part  of  their 
course  of  study,  either  for  the  sake  of  positive  acquire 
ment,  or  for  the  purpose  of  mental  discipline.  -  Collins 
took  the  negative  side  of  the  question,  and  Benjamin 
the  affirmative,  the  latter,  in  his  own  account  of  the  con 
test,  adding — "  perhaps  a  little  for  dispute's  sake."  They 


22  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

commenced  the  discussion  orally;  but  parting  before 
the  debate  was  ended,  and  not  being  likely  to  meet  again 
for  some  little  time,  Benjamin  embraced  the  occasion  to 
write  out  his  arguments  and  send  them  to  Collins,  who 
replied  in  the  same  way. 

Several  communications  on  each  side  had  been  made 
in  this  form,  when  they  fell  under  the  eye  of  Benjamin's 
father,  who,  without  touching  at  all  on  the  merits  of  the 
question,  availed  himself  of  the  opportunity  to  com 
ment  freely  on  the  performances  of  the  young  dispu 
tants,  showing  his  son,  as  he  candidly  states,  that,  al 
though  he  was  more  accurate  in  his  spelling  and  punc 
tuation,  than  his  antagonist,  yet  that  the  latter  much  ex 
celled  him  in  elegance  of  expression,  method,  and  per 
spicuity,  and  supporting  his  criticisms  by  reference  to 
various  passages.  Benjamin  saw  that  his  father  was 
right,  and  instead  of  being  either  offended,  or  discour 
aged,  resolved  to  make  more  vigorous  efforts  to  improve 
his  manner  of  writing. 

Fortunately  for  his  purpose,  about  this  time  he  came 
across  a  stray  volume  containing  some  of  the  celebrated 
essays  of  the  Spectator ,  none  of  which  had  he  ever  seen 
before.  This  book  he  purchased,  read  the  essays  again 
and  again,  and  having  good  sense  and  taste  enough  to 
perceive  and  admire  their  various  merits,  the  desire  to 
form  his  style  on  the  model  they  presented,  took  full 
possession  of  him.  The  method,  already  alluded  to, 
which  he  pursued  to  attain  his  end,  he  describes  as  fol 
lows  : — 

"  I  took  some  of  the  papers,  and  making  short  hints 
of  the  sentiments  in  each  sentence,  laid  them  by  a  few 
days,  and  then  without  looking  at  the  book,  tried  to  com 
plete  the  papers  again,  by  expressing  each  hinted  senti 
ment  at  length,  and  as  fully  as  it  had  been  expressed 
before,  in  any  suitable  words  that  should  occur  to  me. 


MODE    OF    FORMING    HIS    STYLE.  23 

Then  I  compared  my  Spectator  with  the  original,  dis 
covered  some  of  my  faults,  and  corrected  them." 

This  practice  soon  disclosed  to  him  how  compara 
tively  limited  was  his  command  of  language,  and  the 
reason  of  that  deficiency  in  variety,  force,  and  elegance 
of  expression,  which  his  father  had  so  faithfully  pointed, 
out.  These  defects,  he  believed,  would  by  this  time 
have  been  considerably  less,  if  he  had  continued  his 
former  practice  of  making  verses  ;  inasmuch  as  the  con 
stant  necessity  of  finding  words  not  only  to  express  the 
intended  sentiment,  but  to  suit  the  adopted  metre,  would 
have  enlarged  his  vocabulary,  and  given  him  at  the  same 
time  a  readier  command  over  it.  In  this  conviction,  he 
next  proceeded  to  turn  some  of  the  tales  of  the  Spec 
tator  into  verse  ;  and  then,  after  waiting  long  enough  to 
forget  the  language  of  the  original,  turn  his  verse  into 
his  own  prose. 

This  course  of  proceeding  he  pursued  for  the  pur 
pose  of  improving  his  power,  variety,  and  fluency  of 
expression.  To  acquire  the  habit  of  an  appropriate  and 
skilful  arrangement  of  his  thoughts,  in  composing,  he 
"  sometimes  jumbled  his  collections  of  hints  into  con. 
fusion,"  and  then,  when  their  original  order  had  been 
forgotten,  he  would,  without  recurring  to  the  original, 
methodize  them  according  to  his  own  judgment,  and 
write  them  out  again,  in  full,  in  the  best  and  fittest  lan 
guage  he  could  draw  from  his  own  store.  By  faithfully 
persevering  in  these  practices,  and  comparing  his  own 
performance  with  his  model,  his  discernment  was  quick 
ened  for  the  detection  of  his  faults  and  the  amendment 
of  them.  His  pains,  moreover,  were  rewarded,  not  only 
by  the  gratifying  consciousness  of  progress,  but  also  by 
sometimes  having  the  pleasure  of  fancying  that  in  cer 
tain  particulars  of  small  consequence,  as  he  modestly 
remarks,  he  had  been  fortunate  enough  to  improve  the 


24  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

method,  or  the  language,  of  his  model.  This  encour 
aged  him  to  think  that  he  "  might  in  time,  come  to  be 
a  tolerable  English  writer,"  of  which,  he  declares,  he 
was  "  extremely  ambitious." 

These  efforts,  so  ingeniously  devised  and  so  resolutely 
continued,  were  crowned  with  marked  success.  The 
hours  devoted  to  these  exercises  in  composition,  and  to 
reading,  were,  to  use  his  own  words,  "  at  night,  or  be 
fore  work  began  in  the  morning,  or  on  Sundays,  when 
I  continued  to  be  in  the  printing-house ;  avoiding  as 
much  as  I  could,  the  constant  attendance  at  public  wor. 
ship,  which  my  father  used  to  exact  of  me,  when  I  was 
under  his  care,  and  which  I  still  considered  a  duty, 
though  I  could  not  find  time  to  practise  it."  In  this  last 
particular  he  doubtless  erred ;  for  his  duty  to  his  Maker 
was  of  higher  moment  than  even  the  acquisition  of  a  good 
style,  or  the  entertainment  and  instruction  he  found  in 
his  books.  But  the  honest  frankness  of  his  confession, 
and  his  express  recognition  of  the  duty,  may  be  allow 
ed,  perhaps,  as  some  compensation  for  his  fault,  and  was 
at  least  an  amiable  trait  in  his  character.  Let  the 
youthful  reader  shun  the  fault,  and  imitate  the  virtue. 

His  brother  James  was  at  this  time  unmarried,  and 
hired  board  and  lodging  for  himself  and  his  apprentices. 
This  circumstance  led  to  another  proceeding,  on  the  part 
of  Benjamin,  of  no  little  interest  as  indicating  the  force 
of  his  character,  and  his  self-directing  power.  In  his 
sixteenth  year,  or  thereabouts,  he  met  with  a  book  by 
one  Try  on,  in  favor  of  an  exclusively  vegetable  diet. 
The  book  made  such  an  impression  upon  young  Ben 
jamin,  that  he  determined  to  renounce  meat  of  every 
sort,  and  live  on  vegetable  food  alone.  This  rejection 
of  flesh,  besides  being  considered  as  a  mere  freak,  for 
which  he  received  frequent  chiding,  did  in  fact  put  the 
family  where  he  boarded  to  some  inconvenience.  This 


VEGETABLE    DIET.  25 

he  wished  to  avoid,  for  he  had  a  manly  obliging  dispo 
sition  ;  and  having  informed  himself  of  Tryon's  mode 
of  preparing  several  dishes,  of  such  articles  as  were  in 
common  use  and  easily  procured,  particularly  potatoes, 
rice,  corn-meal  for  hasty-pudding,  and  some  others,  he 
then  told  his  brother  that  if  he  would  give  him,  every 
week,  half  the  money  paid  for  his  board,  he  would  board 
himself.  The  proposal  was  instantly  accepted,  and  the 
benefits  he  derived  from  this  arrangement  shall  be  stated 
in  his  own  words  : — 

"  I  presently  found,"  says  he,  "  that  I  could  save  half 
what  he  paid  me.  This  was  an  additional  fund  for  buy 
ing  books ;  but  I  had  another  advantage  in  it.  My 
brother  and  the  rest  going  from  the  printing-house  to 
their  meals,  I  remained  there  alone,  and  despatching 
presently  my  light  repast,  (which  was  often  no  more 
than  a  biscuit,  or  a  slice  of  bread,  a  handful  of  raisins, 
or  a  tart  from  the  pastry-cook's,  and  a  glass  of  water), 
had  the  rest  of  the  time,  till  their  return,  for  study ;  in 
which  I  made  the  greater  progress,  from  that  greater 
clearness  of  head  and  quicker  apprehension,  which  gen 
erally  attend  temperance  in  eating  and  drinking.  Now 
it  was,  that,  being  on  some  occasion  made  ashamed  of 
my  ignorance  in  figures,  which  I  had  twice  failed  of 
learning  when  at  school,  I  took  up  Cocker's  Arithmetic, 
and  went  through  the  whole  by  myself,  with  the  greatest 
ease.  I  also  read  Seller  and  Sturney's  book  on  navi 
gation,  which  made  me  acquainted  with  what  little  ge 
ometry  it  contains." 

About  the  same  period  he  read  attentively  the  ^reat 
work  of  Locke  On  The  Human  Understanding,  and  an 
other  work  having  mainly  the  character  of  a  treatise  on 
logic,  produced  by  the  celebrated  society  of  Port  Royal, 
in  France,  and  entitled,  The  Art  of  Thinking. 

3 


26  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

At  this  period,  also,  a  treatise  on  English  grammar 
came  in  his  way,  and  he  had  the  good  sense  and  indus 
try  to  avail  himself  of  it,  to  obtain  a  more  full  and  sys 
tematic  understanding  of  that  subject,  than  he  yet  pos 
sessed  ;  an  acquisition  indispensable  to  his  becoming, 
what  was  then  the  leading  aim  of  his  ambition,  a  good 
writer.  As  the  same  book  also  contained  short  trea 
tises  on  rhetoric  and  logic,  he  possessed  himself  of 
what  instruction  they  had  to  impart  on  those  subjects. 

The  last-named  treatise,  indeed,  proved  to  be,  to  him, 
by  no  means  unimportant ;  inasmuch  as  it  wrought  a 
considerable  change  in  one  of  his  mental  habits.  The 
treatise  on  logic  closed  with  a  dispute,  regularly  drawn 
out  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue,  and  conducted  in  the 
Socratic  method;  that  is,  the  method  of  conducting  a 
discussion,  which  the  ancient  Athenian  philosopher, 
Socrates,  was  accustomed  to  pursue.  It  may  gratify 
some  of  the  youthful  readers,  for  whom  this  narrative 
of  the  life  of  Franklin  is  principally  intended,  to  say  a 
few  words  of  the  method  referred  to. 

In  ancient  times,  when  the  art  of  printing  was  not 
known,  the  great  task  of  instruction  was  performed  for 
the  most  part  orally.  Sometimes  the  teacher  communi 
cated  his  knowledge  in  systematic  discourses,  the  pupils 
being  mere  listeners  ;  and  sometimes  a  conversational 
method  was  adopted,  the  teacher  being  the  principal 
speaker,  but  permitting  and  inviting  his  pupils  to  put 
questions,  and  giving  them  categorical  answers. 

Socrates,  the  most  successful  teacher,  as  well  as  the 
wis^t  man,  of  his  time,  was  not  only  accustomed  to  use 
the  form  of  dialogue,  and  to  give  it  the  freest  conversa 
tional  turn,  but  he  had,  also,  a  peculiar  method  of  lead 
ing  his  disciples  and  followers  to  the  most  strenuous  ex 
ercise  of  their  own  faculties,  in  receiving  the  opinions 
and  the  knowledge  he  wished  to  impart.  Instead  of 


SOCRATIC    METHOD    OF     REASONING.  27 

making  himself  the  only  speaker,  he  was  frequently  not 
even  the  principal  one  ;  but,  by  a  succession  of  ques 
tions,  so  framed  as  gradually  to  open  a  subject  in  all  its 
parts  and  bearings,  and,  when  finally  contemplated  to 
gether,  to  present  a  complete  analysis  of  it,  he  led  the 
minds  of  his  pupils,  step  by  step,  to  reason  out  for 
themselves  the  conclusions,  to  which  he  sought  to  bring 
them.  The  most  peculiar  and  striking  feature  of  this 
method,  as  Socrates  employed  it,  was  the  framing  of 
his  questions,  or  interrogative  propositions,  in  such  man 
ner  as  to  draw  from  the  pupil,  or  the  antagonist,  in  the 
first  instance,  concessions,  or  affirmations,  which,  as  the 
investigation  proceeded,  it  was  soon  found,  had  been  un 
warily  made,  and  must  be  materially  modified,  or  aban 
doned,  and  the  point  to  which  they  related  be  taken  up 
again  at  the  beginning,  in  order  to  amend  the  reasoning  by 
the  help  of  the  new  lights  shed  upon  the  subject,  from 
the  various  unexpected  relations  in  which  it  had  been 
presented.  In  this  way,  the  just  conclusions  aimed  at, 
were  at  length  reached ;  while,  in  the  process,  besides 
becoming  possessed,  in  the  most  exact  and  perfect  man 
ner,  of  the  truths  which  had  been  the  main  objects  of 
pursuit,  the  pupil  had  also  been  taught  the  value  of  cir 
cumspection  and  caution ;  the  necessity  of  discrimina 
tion,  of  not  taking  too  many  things  for  granted,  of  a 
patient  and  faithful  examination  of  each  argument  in  its 
various  bearings  and  connexions ;  in  short,  his  mind  had 
been  subjected  to  a  most  invigorating  and  wholesome 
discipline. 

Soon  after  his  perusal  of  the  treatise  on  logic,  Ben 
jamin  procured  an  English  translation  of  Xenophon's 
Memorabilia  of  Socrates,  which  contains  many  speci 
mens  of  the  mode  of  investigation  above  described  ;  and, 
as  he  declares,  becoming  charmed  with  it,  he  adopted 
it ;  dropped  his  habit  of  abrupt  contradiction  and  posi- 


28  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

tive  argumentation,  and  assumed  the  much  better  man 
ner  of  the  modest  inquirer. 

As  the  best  things,  however,  are  liable  to  abuse,  so 
this  Socratic  method  of  conducting  an  argument  may, 
by  an  acute  and  skilful  disputant,  be  made  the  means  of 
obtaining  unfair  advantages  over  one,  who,  though  less 
expert,  may,  at  the  same  time,  have  the  more  just  cause, 
be  the  sounder  thinker  of  the  two,  and  much  the  wiser 
man.  Franklin  confesses,  that  in  his  youthful  zeal  and 
fondness  for  disputation,  he  sometimes  used  his  new 
weapon  more  for  the  sake  of  victory,  than  truth ;  that 
in  his  eager  practice  of  it,  he  acquired  an  adroitness 
that  enabled  him  occasionally  to  draw  persons,  superior 
to  himself  in  knowledge,  into  admissions,  which,  in 
volving  consequences  they  did  not  foresee,  gave  him 
sometimes  a  nominal  triumph,  which  neither  himself  nor 
his  cause  deserved.  It  is,  however,  in  this  case,  as  in 
various  others  which  occurred  in  his  experience,  grati 
fying  to  find,  that  his  clear  good  sense  and  general  rec 
titude  of  mind  enabled  him  at  last,  to  separate  the  use 
from  the  abuse,  and  rejecting  the  latter,  to  retain  the 
modest  and  deferential  manner  of  discussion,  which  is,  in 
truth,  the  most  legitimate  effect  of  the  method  in  ques 
tion,  and  the  one  which,  among  others,  its  original  in 
ventor  intended  it  should  chiefly  produce. 

Franklin  states,  that  after  practising  it  a  few  years  ? 
he  laid  it  aside,  retaining  only  the  habit  of  expressing 
himself  in  modest  terms,  when  advancing  sentiments 
open  to  dispute ;  never  using  the  word  "  certainly,"  or 
"  undoubtedly,"  or  any  other  having  an  air  of  posi- 
tiveness  ;  but  employing  the  phrase  "  I  conceive,"  or 
1"I  apprehend,"  or  "it  seems  to  me,"  and  the  like ;  a 
habit  which,  he  takes  the  occasion  to  say,  he  found  very 
advantageous,  in  his  subsequent  experience,  whenever 
he  sought  to  obtain  the  assent  of  others  to  his  opinions, 


POSITIVE  NESS    IN    ARGUMENT.  29 

or  his  measures.  In  this  he  was  doubtless  correct ;  and 
he  justly  deems  this  point  so  important,  that  he  presses 
it  with  much  earnestness.  His  remarks  are  so  pithy 
and  so  well  worthy  of  attention,  that  they  are  here  re 
peated  : — 

"  As  the  chief  ends  of  conversation  are  to  inform,  or 
to  be  informed,  to  please,  or  to  persuade,  I  wish  well- 
meaning  and  sensible  men  would  not  lessen  their  power 
of  doing  good,  by  a  positive  assuming  manner,  that  sel 
dom  fails  to  disgust,  tends  to  create  opposition,  and  to 
defeat  most  of  those  purposes  for  which  speech  was 
given  to  us.  In  fact,  if  you  wish  to  instruct  others,  a 
positive  dogmatical  manner  in  advancing  your  senti 
ments,  may  occasion  opposition  and  prevent  a  candid 
attention.  If  you  desire  instruction  and  improvement 
from  others,  you  should  not  at  the  same  time  express 
yourself  fixed  in  your  present  opinions.  Modest  and 
sensible  men,  who  do  not  love  disputation,  will  leave 
you  undisturbed  in  the  possession  of  your  errors.  In 
adopting  such  a  manner,  you  can  seldom  expect  to 
please  your  hearers,  or  to  obtain  the  concurrence  you 
desire.  Pope  judiciously  observes — 

"  Men  must  be  taught,  as  if  you  taught  them  not ; 
And  things  unknown,  proposed  as  things  forgot." 

He  also  recommends  it  to  us — 

"  To  speak,  though  sure,  with  seeming  diffidence." 
3* 


"30  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 


CHAPTER  III. 

HIS    CONNECTION    WITH    HIS    BROTHER'S  NEWSPAPER. 

ON  the  21st  of  August,  1721,  James  Franklin  began 
publishing  a  newspaper.  It  was  called  "  TJie  New  Eng 
land  Courant ;"  and  it  is  spoken  of  by  Dr.  Franklin,  in 
his  own  narrative  of  his  life,  as  being  the  second  news 
paper,  "  The  Boston  News-Letter"  having  been  the 
first,  which  appeared  in  America.  In  this  latter  par 
ticular,  however,  writing  as  he  was,  from  memory,  fifty 
years  after  the  event  mentioned,  he  mistook  in  his  recol 
lection.  Dr.  Sparks,  the  learned  and  accurate  editor  of 
the  latest  and  by  far  the  fullest  and  most  valuable  col 
lection  of  Dr.  Franklin's  writings,  has  shown  that  James 
Franklin's  newspaper  was  not  the  second,  but  the 
fourth,  which  made  its  appearance  in  this  country  ;  the 
first  being,  as  above  stated,  the  Boston  News-Letter, 
commenced  April  24,  1704 ;  the  second  one,  the  Boston 
Gazette,  started  on  the  21st  of  December,  1719;  and 
the  tliird,  the  American  Weekly  Mercury,  first  issued 
December  22,  1719,  at  Philadelphia. 

Some  of  James  Franklin's  friends  urged  him,  very 
strenuously,  not  to  undertake  the  publication  of  a  news 
paper,  there  being  already,  as  they  thought,  quite  as 
many  as  could  find  support.  But  the  people  of  this 
country,  whether  colonial,  or  independent,  have  always 


HE    BEGINS    TO    WRITE    FOR    THE    PAPER.  31 

been  much  addicted  to  newspapers  ;  and  when,  in  1771, 
Franklin  was  recounting  these  early  incidents,  he  took 
occasion  to  state,  that  the  number  of  this  class  of  publi 
cations  had  then  increased  to  not  less  than  twenty-five. 
Among  the  acquaintances  of  James  were  several,  who 
occasionally  furnished  him  with  communications,  which 
enhanced  the  value  of  his  paper,  and  helped  to  extend 
its  circulation.  As  these  persons  frequently  resorted 
to  the  printing-office,  the  conversation  and  the  favorable 
reception  of  their  articles  by  the  public,  stimulated 
Benjamin  to  make  trial  of  his  own  pen  in  the  same  way. 

To  avoid  all  objection  from  his  brother  on  account  of 
his  youth,  or  for  any  other  reason,  he  wrote  his  pieces  in 
a  disguised  hand,  and  at  night  shoved  them  under  the 
printing-office  door.  The  first  piece  having  been  found 
by  James,  he  showed  it  to  some  of  the  contributors 
mentioned,  whose  remarks  upon  the  performance,  made 
of  course  without  any  suspicion  of  the  writer  and  in 
his  hearing,  were  such  as  gave  him,  to  use  his  own 
words,  "  the  exquisite  pleasure  of  finding  that  it  met 
with  their  approbation ;  and  that,  in  their  different 
guesses  at  the  author,  none  were  named  but  men  of  some 
character  for  learning  and  ingenuity."  He  modestly 
adds,  that  he  was  probably  lucky  in  his  judges,  and 
that  they  were  not  really  as  skilful  critics  as  he  then 
supposed  them  to  be. 

But,  whatever  may  have  been  the  discernment  of  his 
critics,  the  success  of  his  first  effort  was  so  gratifying, 
that,  carefully  guarding  his  secret,  he  continued  in  the 
same  way  to  furnish  communications,  which  proved  alike 
acceptable  to  the  publisher  of  the  paper  and  its  readers ; 
until,  as  he  relates,  he  had  exhausted  his  stock  of  ideas 
for  such  essays ;  when  he  avowed  his  authorship,  and 
thereupon  found  himself  the  object  of  increased  regard 
and  consideration  from  his  brother's  acquaintances. 


32  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

But,  alas !  human  nature  is  weak ;  and  if  prophets 
are  without  their  due  honor  anywhere,  it  is  among  their 
own  kin  and  in  their  own  house.  James  seems  to  have 
been  not  a  little  nettled  by  this  success  of  his  younger 
brother  as  a  writer.  Though  he  sought  to  disguise  so 
unamiable  a  feeling,  under  the  worthier  one  of  an  appre 
hension,  that  the  commendation  bestowed  on  his  appren 
tice  might  make  him  too  vain,  and  though  there  may 
have  been  some  reason  for  such  apprehension,  yet  the 
harsh  and  bitter  temper,  which,  about  this  time,  began 
to  mark  his  treatment  of  Benjamin,  but  too  plainly 
evinced  that  his  brotherly  affection  had  become  soured 
by  some  drops  of  envy.  Instead  of  tempering  his  au 
thority  as  a  master,  with  kindness,  and  with  that  solici 
tude  for  the  improvement  of  his  apprentice,  which 
ought,  indeed,  to  be  cherished  in  all  such  cases,  and 
which,  in  this  instance,  were  rendered  still  more  oblig 
atory  by  the  ties  of  nature,  he  exercised  his  power  op 
pressively  ;  sometimes,  in  the  excitement  of  passion, 
beating  his  brother,  and  sometimes  exacting  from  him 
services  which  were  humiliating. 

Their  differences  were  frequently  laid  before  their 
father,  a  man  of  clear  head,  strong  sense,  and  sound 
judgment ;  arid  the  fact  that  his  decision  was  generally 
in  Benjamin's  favor,  is  good  evidence  of  the  injustice  of 
the  elder  brother.  From  a  remark  which  Dr.  Franklin 
makes  in  connexion  with  his  account  of  these  matters,  it 
is  obvious  that  James's  treatment  of  him  at  the  period 
in  question,  was  the  means  of  thus  early  wakening  in 
his  mind,  that  deep-felt  abhorrence  of  arbitrary  power 
in  all  its  forms,  which  was  so  fully  developed  at  a  later 
period  of  his  career,  and  which  became  one  of  the  most 
energetic  and  controlling  emotions  of  his  soul. 

Of  the  communications  which  appeared  from  time  to 
time  in  the  New  England  Courant,  not  a  few  were  of  a 


ARBITRARY    ACTS    OP    THE    GOVERNMENT.  33 

strongly  marked  satirical  character ;  aiming  not  merely 
in  a  general  way  at  fashionable  follies,  or  the  absurdi 
ties  of  opinion  and  manners  presenting  themselves  in 
the  community  at  large ;  but  applying  the  lash  to  vari 
ous  classes  and  professions,  not  omitting  either  the  po 
litical,  or  clerical ;  exposing  abuses  in  both  civil  and  ec 
clesiastical  administration,  and  hitting  hard.  One  of 
these  pieces,  which  appeared  in  the  summer  of  1722, 
gave  such  offence  to  the  colonial  Assembly,  that  James 
Franklin,  the  publisher,  was  brought  before  that  body, 
on  the  Speaker's  warrant,  severely  reprimanded,  and 
sent  to  prison  for  one  month.  It  was  supposed  he  might 
have  escaped  the  sentence,  in  his  own  person,  if  he 
would  have  disclosed  the  writer  of  the  offensive  article  ; 
but  that  he  manfully  refused  to  do.  Benjamin  was  also 
taken  up  and  examined  before  the  council ;  and  though 
he  also  refused  to  make  any  disclosure,  he  was  only  ad 
monished  and  dismissed  :  on  the  ground,  as  he  supposed, 
that  an  apprentice  could  not  justly  be  required  to  be 
tray  his  master's  secrets.  Perhaps  his  youth,  for  he 
was  only  sixteen  years  old,  also  served  to  render  the 
council  less  rigorous. 

During  the  confinement  of  James,  the  management 
of  the  paper  devolved  on  Benjamin,  who,  notwithstand 
ing  their  private  differences,  magnanimously  resented 
the  harsh  usage  his  brother  received  from  the  public  au 
thorities,  and  gave  them,  in  the  paper,  to  use  his  own 
words,  "  some  rubs,  which  his  brother  took  very  kindly; 
while  others  began  to  consider  him  in  an  unfavorable 
light,  as  a  youth  that  had  a  turn  for  libelling  and  satire." 

The  proceedings  of  the  colonial  government,  on  this 
occasion,  seem  to  have  been,  in  truth,  not  a  little  arbi 
trary  and  oppressive.  James  Franklin  was  arraigned, 
subjected  to  examination,  and  sent  to  prison,  on  a  mere 
general  accusation,  with  no  specific  allegation  of  the 


34  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

subject-matter  of  his  offence,  no  exhibition  of  legal 
proofs  to  sustain  the  accusation,  and  no  trial  before  a 
judicial  tribunal ;  and  when  his  term  of  imprisonment 
expired,  his  discharge  was  accompanied  by  an  act  still 
more  arbitrary  and  tyrannical,  if  possible,  than  even  his 
commitment;  for  the  Assembly  made  an  order  that 
"James  Franklin  should  no  longer  print  the  newspaper 
called  the  New  England  Courant." 

When  James  obtained  his  liberation,  having  come  to 
consider  how  he  should  manage  to  continue  the  publi 
cation  of  his  newspaper,  without  a  direct  and  bold  in 
fraction  of  the  assembly's  order,  which  would  be  cer 
tain  to  bring  upon  him  the  arbitrary  power  of  that  body 
with  increased  severity,  some  of  his  friends  advised 
that  he  should  attain  his  object  by  giving  his  paper  a 
new  name.  To  this,  however,  there  were  various  ob 
jections,  some  of  them  having  relation  to  the  legal  ef-- 
feet  on  his  subscription  list,  and  others  arising  from 
considerations  of  convenience ;  so  that  he  adopted  a 
different  course,  and  one  which  resulted  in  consequences 
of  great  importance  to  his  apprentice-brother.  The 
title  of  the  paper  remained  unchanged,  but  its  publica 
tion  was  continued  in  Benjamin's  name;  and  to  protect 
himself  against  the  charge  of  disobeying  the  mandate 
of  the  assembly,  by  printing  his  paper  through  the 
agency  of  his  servant,  as  the  law  would  consider  it, 
James  resorted  to  the  expedient  of  surrendering  to  Ben 
jamin  his  old  indenture,  with  a  discharge  endorsed  upon 
it,  to  be  kept  for  exhibition  in  case  of  need;  while,  to 
enable  him  to  retain  the  services  of  his  apprentice,'  a 
new  indenture,  for  the  residue  of  the  term,  was  execu 
ted,  but  kept  secret.  This  was  truly,  as  Franklin  calls 
it,  "a  flimsy  scheme;"  but,  though  legally  void,  it  was 
adopted,  and  the  paper  was  printed  for  several  months 
on  this  footing. 


RENEWED    DISSENSIONS.  35 

Before  long,  however,  new  dissensions  arose  between 
the  master  and  his  apprentice ;  and  the  impatience  of 
Benjamin,  under  what  he  deemed  the  injurious  treat 
ment  of  his  brother,  led  him  to  assert  his  freedom,  feel 
ing  sure  that  James  would  not  venture  to  appeal  open 
ly,  at  law,  or  otherwise,  to  the  secret  indenture.  In  his 
own  account  of  this  affair,  he  makes  the  following  frank 
and  ingenuous  statement : — 

"  It  was  not  fair  in  me  to  take  this  advantage,  and  this 
I  therefore  reckon  one  of  the  first  errata  of  my  life  ; 
but  the  unfairness  of  it  weighed  little  with  me,  when 
under  the  impressions  of  resentment  for  the  blows  his 
[James's]  passion  too  often  urged  him  to  bestow  upon 
me;  though  he  was  otherwise  not  an  illnatured  man; 
and  perhaps  I  was  too  saucy  and  provoking." 

Benjamin,  however,  carried  his  resentment  no  further 
than  simply  to  break  off  his  apprenticeship  ;  for  when 
his  brother,  on  finding  him  determined  to  leave,  went 
round  and  spoke  to  the  other  master-printers  in  Boston, 
to  prevent  his  procuring  employment,  instead  of  dis 
closing  the  actual  condition  of  the  indentures,  he  kept 
the  secret,  and  turned  his  thoughts  elsewhere,  and  par 
ticularly  toward  New  York,  as  the  nearest  place  in 
which  he  would  be  likely  to  obtain  employment  as  a 
printer.  Of  his  views  and  motives  at  this  time,  he  has 
himself  given  the  following  account : — 

"  I  was  rather  inclined,"  says  he,  "  to  leave  Boston, 
when  I  reflected  that  I  had  already  made  myself  a  little 
obnoxious  to  the  governing  party,  and,  from  the  arbitrary 
proceedings  of  the  assembly  in  my  brother's  case,  it 
was  likely  I  might,  if  I  stayed,  soon  bring  myself  into 
scrapes ;  and  further,  that  my  indiscreet  disputations 
about  religion,  began  to  make  me  pointed  at  with  hor 
ror  by  good  people,  as  an  infidel  and  atheist.  I  con 
cluded,  therefore,  to  remove  to  New  York  ;  but  my 


36  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

father  now  siding  with  my  brother,  I  was  sensible  that 
if  I  attempted  to  go  openly,  means  would  be  used  to 
prevent  me." 

In  this  emergency  he  resorted  to  his  friend  Collins, 
who,  at  Benjamin's  request,  engaged  a  passage  for  him 
in  a  New  York  sloop  then  just  about  to  sail ;  alleging 
to  the  captain,  as  the  reason  for  his  leaving  Boston  clan 
destinely,  that  he  had  an  intrigue  with  a  girl  of  bad 
character,  whose  parents  would  compel  him  to  marry 
her,  unless  he  could  make  his  escape  in  this  manner. 
"  I  sold  my  books,"  says  he,  "  to  raise  a  little  money, 
was  taken  on  board  the  sloop  privately,  had  a  fair  wind, 
and  in  three  days  found  myself  at  New  York,  near  300 
miles  from  my  home,  at  the  age  of  seventeen  (October, 
1723),  without  the  least  recommendation,  or  knowledge 
of  any  person  in  the  place,  and  very  little  money  in  my 
pocket." 


JOURNEY    TO    PHILADELPHIA.  37 


CHAPTER  IV. 

INCIDENTS    ON    HIS    JOURNEY    TO    PHILADELPHIA. 

AT  New  York  Benjamin's  early  "hankering  for  the 
sea,"  if  he  had  still  cherished  it,  might  have  been  easily 
gratified.  Fortunately  for  him,  however,  if  we  may 
judge  from  actual  consequences,  that  desire  had  left 
him ;  and  having  now  a  good  trade,  one  for  which  he 
had  acquired  a  liking,  and  in  which  he  had  become  an 
expert  workman,  he  lost  no  time  in  seeking  for  employ 
ment  as  a  journeyman-printer.  With  this  view  he  went 
at  once  to  Mr.  William  Bradford,  as  the  most  prominent 
master-printer  at  that  time  in  the  city.  This  person  had 
originally  been  established  in  Philadelphia,  and  was  the 
earliest  printer  in  Pennsylvania ;  but  having  got  into  a 
contest  with  Keith,  then  governor  of  that  province,  he 
had  transferred  himself  to  New  York.  Mr.  Bradford 
had  no  occasion  to  hire  an  additional  hand,  but  he  told 
Benjamin  that  his  son,  Andrew  Bradford,  who  was  en 
gaged  in  the  printing  business,  in  Philadelphia,  had 
been  recently  deprived,  by  death,  of  his  principal  work 
man,  and  would,  as  he  confidently  believed,  be  likely 
to  employ  him. 

For  Philadelphia,  then,  though  a  hundred  miles  fur 
ther,  a  distance  by  no  means  inconsiderable  in  those 
days,  he  manfully  set  forth  ;  taking  himself  a  sail-boat 
for  Amboy,  but  leaving  his  chest,  containing  most  of  his 
4 


38  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

clothes,  to  be  sent  round  by  sea.  While  crossing  New 
York  bay,  on  the  course  for  the  Kills  which  separate 
Staten  island  from  the  main  shore  of  Jersey,  a  violent 
squall  split  the  sails  of  the  boat,  and  drove  it  toward 
Long  island.  While  thus  driving,  an  amusing  incident 
occurred,  of  which  Franklin  gives  the  following  spright 
ly  account : — 

"  In  our  way,  a  drunken  Dutchman,  who  was  a  pas 
senger  too,  fell  overboard.  When  he  was  sinking,  I 
reached  through  the  water  to  his  shock-pate  and  drew 
him  up,  so  that  we  got  him  in  again.  His  ducking  so 
bered  him  a  little,  and  he  went  to  sleep,  taking  first  out 
of  his  pocket  a  book,  which  he  desired  I  would  dry  for 
him.  It  proved  to  be  my  old  favorite  author,  Bunyan's 
Pilgrim's  Progress,  in  Dutch,  finely  printed  on  good 
paper,  with  copper  cuts  ;  a  better  dress  than  I  had  ever 
seen  it  wear  in  its  own  language.  I  have  since  found 
that  it  has  been  translated  into  most  of  the  languages  of 
Europe  ;  and  I  suppose  it  has  been  more  generally  read 
than  any  book,  except  perhaps  the  Bible.  Honest  John 
was  the  first  that  I  know  of,  who  mixed  narrative  with 
dialogue;  a  method  of  writing  very  engaging  to  the 
reader,  who,  in  the  most  interesting  parts,  finds  himself, 
as  it  were,  admitted  into  the  company  arid  present  at 
the  conversation." 

But,  to  return  to  the  condition  of  the  voyagers,  which 
was  by  no  means  free  from  peril — the  surf  ran  so  high 
on  the  Long  island  beach,  and  the  tempest  was  so  violent, 
that  the  boat's  company  could  neither  land  themselves, 
nor  receive  assistance  from  the  shore  ;  so,  dropping  an 
chor,  they  rode  out  the  gale  as  well  as  they  could ;  and 
when  night  came  down  upon  them,  they  had  no  resource 
but  to  wait  patiently  for  the  lulling  of  the  storm.  Thus 
situated,  Benjamin  and  the  boat-master,  determining  to 
get,  if  possible,  a  little  sleep,  bestowed  themselves  as 


STORM    IN    NEW    YORK    BAY.  39 

snugly  as  circumstances  permitted,  under  the  hatches 
alongside  of  the  still  wet  Dutchman.  But  the  spray 
making  a  continual  breach  over  the  little  vessel  and 
dripping  down  upon  them,  they  were  soon  as  thoroughly 
soaked  as  their  unlucky  bed-fellow  who  had  previously 
turned  in ;  and  in  this  comfortless  condition  they  passed 
the  night.  In  the  morning,  however,  the  wind  went 
down,  and  they  "made  shift  to  reach  Amboy  before 
night,  after  having  been  thirty  hours  on  the  water,  with 
out  victuals,  and  no  drink  but  a  little  filthy  rum,  the 
water  sailed  on  being  salt." 

After  such  an  exposure  it  is  not  surprising  that  Ben 
jamin  found  himself  feverish  in  the  evening.  Recol 
lecting,  however,  that  he  had  somewhere  seen  it  stated 
that  copious  draughts  of  cold  water  were  very  useful, 
on  such  occasions,  he  had  the  good  sense  to  give  the 
remedy  a  fair  trial.  This  gave  him,  in  the  course  of  the 
night,  so  effectual  a  sweating,  that,  when  the  morning 
came,  his  fever  was  gone,  and  he  set  forth  on  foot  for 
Burlington,  fifty  miles  distant,  on  the  Delaware  river, 
where  he  expected  to  be  able  readily  to  obtain  passage 
in  a  boat  to  Philadelphia. 

A  heavy  rain  fell,  all  that  day,  and  when  noon  came 
he  stopped  at  a  small  tavern,  where  he  determined  to 
rest  till  the  next  morning.  On  reaching  this  place,  wet, 
weary,  and  alone,  he  experienced  such  a  depression  of 
spirits  that  he  began  to  wish,  as  he  relates,  that  he  had 
never  left  home.  His  age  and  appearance,  with  the 
other  attending  circumstances,  were  such  that  he  soon 
perceived,  by  the  manner  in  which  he  was  interrogated, 
that  he  was  suspected  to  be  a  "  runaway  indentured 
servant ;"  and  his  trouble  was  increased  by  the  fear  of 
being  taken  into  custody.  He  was  not  molested,  how 
ever,  and  the  next  day,  pushing  stoutly  forward,  he  reach 
ed  a  tavern  about  ten  miles  from  Burlington,  "  kept  by 


40  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

one  Dr.  Brown."  While  taking  some  refreshment, 
Brown,  says  Franklin,  "  entered  into  conversation  with 
me,  and  finding  I  had  read  a  little,  became  very  obli 
ging  and  friendly ;  and  our  acquaintance  continued  all 
the  rest  of  his  life." 

Franklin  conjectured  that  this  Mr.  Brown  had  been 
an  itinerant  quack  doctor  ;  "  for  there  was  no  town  in 
England,  nor  any  country  of  Europe,  of  which  he  could 
not  give  a  very  particular  account."  He  speaks  of  him 
as  an  ingenious  man,  of  some  attainments  in  literature ; 
but  adds,  "  he  was  an  infidel,  and  wickedly  undertook, 
some  years  after,  to  turn  the  Bible  into  doggrel  verse, 
as  Cotton  had  formerly  done  with  Virgil.  By  this 
means  he  set  many  facts  in  a  ridiculous  light,  and  might 
have  done  mischief  with  weak  minds,  if  his  work  had 
been  published;  but  it  never  was." 

Benjamin  stayed  that  night  at  Brown's,  and  the  next 
morning,  which  was  Saturday,  proceeded  to  Burlington, 
which,  however,  he  did  not  reach,  till  a  little  after  the 
regular  boats  for  Philadelphia  had  gone.  While  pas 
sing  through  the  town,  he  had  stopped  a  moment  at  the 
door  of  an  elderly  woman,  who  sold  gingerbread,  of 
which  he  had  purchased  a  little  to  comfort  him  on  his 
expected  passage  to  Philadelphia  ;  and  now,  upon  learn 
ing  that  no  boat  was  likely  to  leave  Burlington  for  that 
city,  sooner  than  the  next  Tuesday,  he  turned  back  from 
the  river-side  to  the  house  of  the  gingerbread  woman, 
whose  look  he  thought  had  been  kindly,  to  acquaint  her 
with  his  disappointment,  and  ask  her  advice.  On  hear 
ing  his  statement,  she  very  hospitably  offered  to  lodge 
him,  till  he  could  find  a  passage.  To  this,  leg-weary  as 
he  was,  he  gladly  assented  ;  and  as  they  talked  together, 
the  good  woman,  learning  that  he  was  a  printer,  pro 
posed,  in  her  ignorance  of  what  would  be  needed  for 
the  purpose,  that  he  should  set  up  his  business  in  Bur- 


THE     GINGERBREAD     WOMAN.  41 

lington.  She  further  manifested  her  kindness  by  giving 
him  a  nice  dinner  of  ox-cheek,  "  accepting  only  a  pot  of 
ale  in  return." 

To  the  youth  of  seventeen,  weary,  lonely,  far  from 
home  for  the  first  time  in  his  life,  with  a  dim  and  un 
certain  prospect  before  him,  the  kindness  of  that  poor 
woman  must  have  given  unwonted  efficacy  to  the  re 
freshing  virtues  of  the  ox-cheek  and  the  ale  ;  for  "  bet 
ter  is  a  dinner  of  herbs,  where  love  is,  than  a  stalled 
ox,  and  hatred  therewith."  It  was  a  pleasant  stage  in 
his  wet  and  dreary  journey  ;  and  he  was  expecting,  not 
discontentedly,  to  remain  with  the  hospitable  ginger 
bread-woman  till  Tuesday,  when,  as  the  day  was  clo 
sing  arid  he  was  walking  by  the  side  of  the  river,  he  saw 
a  boat  coming  down  on  its  way  to  Philadelphia,  with 
several  persons  on  board,  and  with  them  he  obtained  a 
passage. 

There  was  no  wind,  and  it  was  necessary  to  row. 
About  midnight,  having  seen  nothing  ahead  betokening 
their  approach  to  the  city,  some  of  the  company,  fear 
ing  they  had  passed  it  in  the  dark,  would  row  no  fur 
ther;  and  as  none  of  them  knew  precisely  where  they 
were,  they  turned  into  a  creek,  landed  near  an  old  fence, 
of  the  rails  of  which  they  made  a  fire  that  chill  October 
night,  and  like  Paul  and  his  companions  at  Melita,  they 
"  wished  for  day."  When  the  day  came,  one  of  the 
company  recognised  the  place  as  Cooper's  creek,  a 
short  distance  above  Philadelphia;  whereupon,  embark 
ing  and  pulling  out  a  little  from  the  cover  of  the  high 
banks  of  the  creek,  the  city  became  visible,  and  they 
reached  it  about  9  o'clock,  landing  at  the  Market  street 
wharf. 


42  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 


CHAPTER  V. 

PROCURES    EMPLOYMENT    IN    PHILADELPHIA. 

THE  personal  condition  of  our  hero,  on  his  arrival  at 
Philadelphia,  and  the  appearance  he  made  as  he  took 
his  first  walk  in  the  streets  of  that  city,  derive  so  much 
interest  from  the  lustre  of  his  subsequent  position  in 
that  community,  and  present  so  strong  a  contrast  there 
with,  that  his  own  description  of  himself,  at  that  time, 
is  here  copied;  and  a  vivid  and  graphic  one  it  is  : — 

"  I  was,"  says  he,  "  in  my  working-dress,  my  best 
clothes  coming  round  by  sea.  I  was  dirty  from  my  be 
ing  so  long  in  the  boat.  My  pockets  were  stuffed  out 
with  shirts  and  stockings,  and  I  knew  no  one,  nor  where 
to  look  for  lodging.  Fatigued  with  walking,  rowing, 
and  the  want  of  sleep,  I  was  very  hungry ;  and  my 
whole  stock  of  cash  consisted  of  a  single  dollar,  and 
about  a  shilling  in  copper  coin,  which  I  gave  to  the 
boatmen  for  my  passage.  At  first  they  refused  it,  on 
account  of  my  having  rowed ;  but  I  insisted  on  their 
taking  it.  Man  is  sometimes  more  generous  when  he 
has  little  money,  than  when  he  has  plenty;  perhaps  to 
prevent  his  being  thought  to  have  but  little." 

Having  thus  satisfied  his  self-esteem  by  paying  for 
his  passage,  he  walked  into  the  city.  Near  Market 
street  he  met  a  boy  with  bread,  and  learning  from  him 


ROLLS  OP  RREAD QUAKER  MEETtNG.       43 

where  he  obtained  it,  he  went  directly  to  the  baker's,  to 
satisfy  his  hunger,  as  he  had  often  done  before,  with  a 
meal  of  dry  bread.  He  first  inquired  for  biscuits,  ex 
pecting  to  find  such  as  he  had  been  accustomed  to  eat 
in  Boston ;  but  as  the  Philadelphia  bakers  did  not  make 
them,  he  asked  the  baker  for  three-pence  worth  of  bread 
in  any  form. 

"  He  accordingly  gave  me,"  says  Franklin,  "  three 
great  puffy  rolls.  I  was  surprised  at  the  quantity,  but 
took  it,  and,  having  no  room  in  my  pockets,  walked  off 
with  a  roll  under  each  arm,  and  eating  the  other.  Thus 
I  went  up  Market  street  as  far  as  Fourth  street,  pas 
sing  by  the  door  of  Mr.  Read,  my  future  wife's  father; 
when  she,  standing  at  the  door,  saw  me,  and  thought  I 
made,  as  I  certainly  did,  a  most  awkward  and  ridicu 
lous  appearance.  Then  I  turned  and  went  down  Chest 
nut  street  and  part  of  Walnut  street,  eating  my  roll  all 
the  way  and  coming  round,  found  myself  again  at 
Market  street  wharf,  near  the  boat  I  came  in,  to  which 
I  went  for  a  draught  of  the  river  water;  and  being 
filled  with  one  of  my  rolls,  gave  the  other  two  to  a  wo 
man  and  her  child  that  came  down  the  river  in  the  boat 
with  us,  and  were  waiting  to  go  further." 

Having  done  this  act  of  kindness — an  act,  which,  if 
measured,  as  it  ought  to  be,  by  his  own  personal  circum 
stances  at  the  time,  should  not  be  regarded  merely  as 
testimony  of  the  unreflecting  sympathy  of  youth,  but  as 
an  earnest  of  that  deliberate  bounty  of  disposition,  which 
distinguished  him  through  life — and  having  been  him 
self  refreshed  by  his  bread  and  water,  he  set  forth  ao-ain, 
and  walking  up  the  same  street,  he  now  found  it  throng 
ed  with  neat  well-dressed  people,  all  going  one  way. 
"  I  joined  them,"  says  he,  "  and  thereby  was  led  into 
the  great  Meeting-House  of  the  Quakers,  near  the  mar 
ket.  I  sat  down  among  them,  and,  after  looking  round 


44  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN     FRANKLIN. 

awhile  and  hearing  nothing  said,  being  very  drowsy 
through  labor  and  the  want  of  rest  the  preceding  night, 
I  fell  fast  asleep,  and  continued  so  till  the  meeting  broke 
up,  when  some  one  was  kind  enough  to  rouse  me.  This, 
therefore,  was  the  first  house  I  was  in,  or  slept  in,  in 
Philadelphia." 

Leaving  the  Meeting-House,  he  bent  his  steps  toward 
the  river  again,  reading  faces  as  he  went  (not  from  im 
pertinence,  as  will  be  seen),  till  he  met  a  young  man,  a 
Quaker,  whose  countenance  was  so  pleasing  that  he  ac 
costed  him,  requesting,  as  a  stranger,  to  be  informed 
where  he  could  find  lodging.  The  reply  of  the  young  man 
justified  the  favorable  impression  made  by  .his  counte 
nance  ;  for  it  manifested  that  considerate  and  honest  re 
gard  for  the  welfare  of  the  ymithful  stranger,  which, 
though  really  a  duty,  is  of  a  class  not  often  performed, 
nor  even  remembered  ;  but  which  showed  that  this  young 
Quaker  comprehended  and  recognised,  on  this  occasion 
at  least,  his  obligation  as  a  neighbor,  in  that  wide  and 
generous  sense,  in  which  it  is  inculcated  in  the  beautiful 
parable  of  The  Good  Samaritan.  They  were  near  a 
tavern  with  the  sign  of  The  Three  Mariners,  to  which 
the  young  man  pointed,  saying,  in  answer  to  the  inquiry, 
— "  Here  is  a  house  where  they  receive  strangers,  but 
it  is  not  a  reputable  one  ;  if  thou  wilt  walk  with  me,  I 
will  show  thee  a  better  one" — and  then  conducted  him 
to  The  Crooked  Billet.  There  Benjamin  took  dinner, 
and  while  thus  engaged  he  there  again  perceived,  from 
the  manner  in  which  he  was  questioned,  that  he  was 
"  suspected  of  being  a  runaway."  When  he  had  fin 
ished  his  meal  he  asked  for  a  bed,  and  being  taken  to 
one,  he  threw  himself  upon  it,  without  waiting  to  un 
dress,  and  slept  till  called  to  supper ;  after  which,  he 
"  went  to  bed  again  very  early,  and  slept  very  soundly 
till  next  morning." 


PHILADELPHIA     PRINTERS.  45 

Having  now,  by  abundant  rest  and  food,  recovered 
from  the  fatigue  of  his  toilsome  journey  from  New 
York,  though  his  chest  containing  his  better  clothes  had 
not  yet  arrived,  he  dressed  himself  as  neatly  as  circum 
stances  would  permit,  and  went  forth  to  call  upon  An 
drew  Bradford,  the  printer. 

Mr.  Bradford  was  in  his  printing-office,  where  Benja 
min,  to  his  surprise,  also  found  with  him  his  father,  Mr. 
William  Bradford,  who,  coming  from  New  York  on 
horseback,  had  reached  Philadelphia  before  him.  The 
old  gentleman  instantly  recognised  Benjamin  and  intro 
duced  him  to  his  son,  who  received  him  very  civilly, 
and  gave  him  a  breakfast,  but  did  not  then  need  another 
journeyman,  having  recently  hired  one.  He  informed 
him,  however,  that  there  was  another  printer  in  the 
place,  by  the  name  of  Keimer,  who  had  lately  opened  a 
printing-office,  and  who  might  perhaps  employ  him ;  but 
kindly  added  that  if  he  should  not  be  wanted  there,  he 
was  welcome  to  lodge  at  his  own  house,  and  he  would 
give  him  something  to  do,  from  time  to  time,  till  he 
could  procure  fuller  employment. 

The  elder  Bradford  obligingly  went  to  Keimer's  with 
Benjamin,  and  on  finding  him  in  his  shop,  said — 
"  Neighbor,  I  have  brought  to  see  you  a  young  man  of 
your  business  ;  perhaps  you  may  want  such  a  one." 
Upon  this,  Keimer,  after  asking  a  few  questions  and 
putting  into  his  hand  a  composing-stick,  to  see  how  he 
worked,  told  him  that  just  then  he  had  nothing  for  him 
to  do,  but  would  employ  him  soon.  Keimer  had  never 
seen  the  elder  Bradford  before,  and  supposing  him  to 
be  a  resident  of  the  town  favorably  disposed  toward 
him,  conversed  freely  with  him  about  his  own  affairs ; 
and  having,  unguardedly,  dropped  a  hint  that  he  ex 
pected,  shortly,  to  be  enabled  to  secure  to  himself  most 
of  the  printing  business  of  the  place,  the  crafty  father, 


46  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN     FRANKLIN. 

warily  avoiding  any  disclosure  of  his  relationship  to 
Andrew  Bradford,  gradually  pumped  from  the  commu 
nicative  Keimer,  a  full  account  of  his  plans  and  pros 
pects,  as  well  as  the  personal  influences  and  other  means, 
on  which  he  relied  for  the  attainment  of  his  objects; 
and  having  thus  got  all  he  wanted,  the  cunning  old  man 
went  away,  leaving  Benjamin  and  Keimer  together.  The 
latter,  on  being  informed  by  his  new  acquaintance  who 
the  old  man  was,  experienced  no  little  surprise  and 
chagrin. 

The  whole  interview,  in  the  deceitful  and  dishonest 
craftiness  practised  by  one  of  the  parties,  and  in  the 
weak  and  leaky  folly  with  which  the  other  betrayed  his 
most  important  secrets,  to  a  person  whom  he  did  not 
know,  furnished  to  Benjamin  an  impressive  lesson  of 
the  value  of  circumspection  and  a  discreet  reserve,  as 
being  only  the  dictate  of  ordinary  prudence,  in  all  in 
tercourse  with  strangers  upon  matters  of  business,  and 
as  generally  indispensable  to  the  successful  management 
of  private  affairs,  amid  the  keen  competitions  of  life. 

Upon  inspecting  the  condition  of  Keimer's  printing- 
office,  Benjamin  found  it  to  be  very  much  as  might  have 
been  expected,  from  such  a  lax  and  careless  character,  as 
the  one  just  now  disclosed,  and  serving  to  betoken  it 
still  more  fully.  The  whole  equipment  appears  to  have 
consisted  of  "an  old  damaged  press  and  a  small  worn- 
out  font  of  English  types,"  which  Keimer  himself  was 
using  in  setting  up  an  Elegy  to  the  memory  of  Aquila 
Rose,  the  lately  deceased  foreman  of  Andrew  Brad 
ford's  office;  "an  ingenuous  young  man,"  says  Frank 
lin,  "  of  excellent  character,  much  respected  in  the 
town,  secretary  of  the  assembly,  and  a  pretty  poet." 

In  recounting  these  incidents  Franklin  adds,  that 
"  Keimer  made  verses  too,  but  very  indifferently.  He 
could  not  be  said  to  write  them ;  for  his  method  was  to 


KEIMER HIS    CHARACTER.  47 

compose  them  in  the  types,  directly  out  of  his  head." 
As  there  was  no  written  copy,  only  one  pair  of  cases, 
and  little  if  any  more  letter  than  the  Elegy  alone  would 
require,  the  compositor-poet  could  receive  no  aid,  unless 
from  his  muse,  in  committing  his  verses  to  type.  Ben 
jamin,  however,  made  himself  useful  by  overhauling  the 
old  press,  which  Keimer  had  neither  used,  nor  knew 
how  to  use ;  and  when  he  had  put  it  in  working  order, 
and  had  promised  to  come  and  work  off  the  Elegy  as 
soon  as  it  was  ready,  he  returned  to  Bradford,  who  set 
him  upon  a  small  job,  and  with  whom,  for  the  time  be 
ing,  he  quartered.  In  the  course  of  a  few  days,  it  be 
ing  announced  to  Benjamin  that  the  Elegy  was  ready, 
he  went  and  put  it  through  the  press,  as  he  had  prom 
ised  ;  and  Keimer  having  now  procured  another  pair  of 
cases,  set  him  at  work  upon  a  pamphlet,  which  had  just 
been  sent  in  to  be  reprinted. 

Neither  of  these  men,  however,  as  Franklin  found, 
had  more  than  a  very  scanty  knowledge  of  the  trade 
they  had  undertaken.  Bradford,  it  appears,  had  not 
only  never  been  bred  a  printer,  but  was  very  illiterate ; 
while  Keimer,  though  he  had  received  more  general  in 
struction  and  was  more  acquainted  with  books,  knew 
little  or  nothing  of  any  part  of  his  business,  except  mere 
ly  the  setting  of  types.  And  though  the  former  was 
doubtless  the  superior  in  point  of  plain  sense  and  gen 
eral  repute  as  a  citizen,  yet  the  latter,  from  his  pecu 
liarities  of  temper  and  habits  of  thinking,  was  clearly 
the  more  amusing  of  the  two,  as  an  individual  man.  He 
was,  indeed,  an  oddity,  and  his  character  presented  not 
a  little  of  the  grotesque. 

He  had,  at  an  earlier  period,  belonged  to  one  of  the 
strange  sects  of  those  days,  called  the  French  prophets, 
and  he  could  perform  their  enthusiastic  exercises.  "  At 
this  time,"  however,  says  Franklin,  "  he  did  not  profess 


48  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

any  particular  religion,  but  something  of  all,  upon  oc 
casion  ;  was  very  ignorant  of  the  world,  and  had,  as  I 
afterward  found,  a  good  deal  of  the  knave  in  his  com 
position." 

As  a  further  specimen  of  him  it  may  be  mentioned 
that  Keimer  had  a  house,  but  no  furniture ;  so  that  he 
could  not  lodge  his  new  journeyman,  whose  boarding  at 
Bradford's,  nevertheless,  while  working  for  himself,  he 
disliked.  He  therefore  procured  quarters  for  Benjamin 
at  the  house  of  his  future  father-in-law,  Mr.  Read,  where, 
as  he  says  of  himself  long  after,  "  my  chest  of  clothes 
being  come,  I  made  a  rather  more  respectable  appear 
ance  in  the  eyes  of  Miss  Read,  than  I  had  done,  when 
she  first  happened  to  see  me  eating  my  roll  in  the 
street." 

Being  now  agreeably  settled,  with  sufficient  employ 
ment  to  enable  him,  by  his  own  industry  and  frugality, 
to  provide  for  himself,  he  began  to  make  acquaintances 
"  among  the  young  people  of  the  town,"  particularly 
such  as  were  "  lovers  of  reading,  with  whom  he  spent 
his  evenings  very  pleasantly,"  and  endeavored  to  wean 
his  thoughts  from  Boston  as  much  as  possible. 

While  thus  comfortably  situated,  working  cheerfully 
at  his  trade  and  contented  with  his  prospects,  some 
events  occurred,  in  the  course  of  a  few  months,  which 
not  only  led  him  to  revisit  his  native  place  much  sooner 
than  he  had  anticipated,  but  interrupted  his  present  con 
nexions,  and  gave  a  new  face  and  direction  to  his  affairs. 

One  of  his  sisters  had  married  Robert  Holmes,  who 
was  master  of  a  sloop  engaged  in  the  coasting-trade  be 
tween  Boston  and  the  towns  on  the  Delaware  bay  and 
river.  In  the  course  of  the  winter  immediately  suc 
ceeding  Benjamin's  fixing  himself  in  Philadelphia,  the 
winter  of  1723-'4,  Holmes  arrived  with  his  sloop  at 
Newcastle,  about  forty  miles  below  Philadelphia,  and 


SIR    WILLIAM    KEITH.  49 

while  there,  hearing  of  his  young  brother-in-law,  he 
wrote  him  a  letter,  telling  him  of  the  sorrow  of  his  pa 
rents  and  other  relatives,  at  his  having  absconded  they 
knew  not  whither,  assuring  him  that  their  affection  for 
him  was  undiminished,  and  that  everything  would  be 
arranged  to  his  satisfaction,  if  he  would  go  back  to 
them,  which  Holmes  earnestly  besought  him  to  do. 

To  this  letter  Benjamin  wrote  a  full  and  kind  reply, 
expressing  his  thanks  to  his  brother-in-law  for  the  af 
fectionate  regard  which  had  prompted  his  letter,  and 
placing  his  own  reasons  for  leaving  Boston,  in  such  a 
point  of  view  and  with  so  much  clearness  and  force, 
that  Holmes  became  convinced,  as  he  subsequently  ad 
mitted,  that  Benjamin  had  "  not  been  so  much  in  the 
wrong  as  he  had  apprehended." 

Sir  William  Keith,  at  that  period  governor  of  Penn 
sylvania,  happened  to  be  at  Newcastle  and  in  company 
with  Captain  Holmes,  when  Benjamin's  letter  was  de 
livered  to  his  brother-in-law,  who,  after  perusing  it  him 
self,  handed  it  to  the  governor  and  gave  him  some  ac 
count  of  the  writer.  The  governor,  having  read  the 
letter,  made  further  inquiries  respecting  Benjamin  ;  and, 
on  learning  his  age,  manifested  much  surprise  at  finding 
him  so  young,  and  not  a  little  admiration  at  the  uncom 
mon  talents  and  force  of  character  developed  so  early 
in  life.  He  went  on  to  say  that  such  a  youth  should  be 
countenanced  and  encouraged  ;  he  spoke  contemptuous 
ly  of  the  printers  then  in  Philadelphia,  and  of  the  way 
in  which  th'ey  conducted  their  business  ;  expressed  his 
entire  conviction  that,  if  Benjamin  would  open  a  print 
ing-office  on  his  own  account,  he  would  unquestionably 
be  successful ;  and  declared  that,  for  his  own  part,  he 
would  procure  for  him  the  public  printing,  and  would 
render  him  every  kind  of  assistance  and  patronage  in 
his  power. 

5 


50  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

Such,  as  Captain  Holmes  informed  Benjamin  when 
they  subsequently  met  in  Boston,  was  the  warm  and  en 
couraging  language  held  by  the  governor,  on  the  occa 
sion  mentioned.  At  the  time,  however,  nothing  of  all 
this  had  been  made  known  to  Benjamin,  when,  as  he  and 
Keimer  were  one  day  at  work  in  their  printing-office, 
on  looking  through  a  window  near  them,  they  saw  two 
well-dressed  gentlemen  coming  across  the  street  direct 
ly  toward  the  office,  and  immediately  after  heard  them 
at  the  door  below.  These  gentlemen  were  Governor 
Keith  and  a  Colonel  French,  of  Newcastle. 

Keimer,  very  naturally  taking  it  for  granted  that  their 
visit  was  intended  for  him,  and  that  new  custom  was  at 
hand,  hastened  down  to  admit  them.  The  governor, 
however,  inquired  only  for  Benjamin  ;  and  making  his 
way  up-stairs  into  the  office,  accosted  the  young  printer 
with  great  courtesy,  expressed  his  earnest  desire  to  be 
come  acquainted  with  him,  blamed  him,  with  gracious 
condescension,  for  not  having  made  himself  known  to 
him  on  his  first  arrival  at  Philadelphia,  and  insisted  on 
his  instantly  accompanying  himself  and  his  friend  Col- 
oriel  French,  to  the  tavern  to  which  they  were  going, 
"to  taste  some  excellent  Madeira." 

At  all  this,  Benjamin  was  himself  "not  a  little  sur 
prised,"  while  Keimer  "  stared  with  astonishment."  Af 
ter  reaching  the  tavern,  and  as  they  were  sitting  over  the 
wine,  Governor  Keith  announced  his  proposal  that  Ben 
jamin  should  open  a  printing-office  and  go  into  business 
as  a  printer,  on  his  own  account.  He  urged,  with  much 
zeal  and  plausibility,  the  reasons  for  calculating  on  suc 
cess  ;  and  both  Sir  William  and  Colonel  French  pledged 
to  him  their  whole  interest  and  influence,  to  procure  for 
him  the  public  printing  of  the  two  governments  of 
Pennsylvania  and  Delaware. 

To  carry  such   a  plan  into  effect,  however,  Benjamin 


A    NEW    PROJECT.  51 

had  no  means  of  his  own,  and  he  frankly  stated  that  he 
could  not  count  at  all  upon  being  able  to  obtain  such 
means  from  his  father.  The  governor  met  this  objec 
tion  by  promising  to  write  to  Josiah  Franklin,  very 
fully,  and  to  set  forth  the  advantages  of  the  plan,  as  well 
as  the  reasons  why  it  must  succeed,  in  such  a  light  as 
would,  he  was  confident,  procure  his  approval  and  as 
sistance  ;  and  before  the  interview  ended,  it  was  con 
cluded  that  Benjamin  should  avail  himself  of  the  first 
vessel  bound  for  Boston,  to  go  with  Governor  Keith's 
promised  letter  to  his  father.  Meanwhile  the  whole 
scheme  was  to  be  kept  strictly  secret. 

This  affair  having  been  thus  arranged,  Benjamin  con 
tinued  to  work  for  Keimer  as  usual ;  his  social  inter 
course  being  varied,  and  his  hopes  cheered,  by  accept 
ing,  from  time  to  time,  the  invitations  of  Sir  William 
Keith  to  dine  with  him  at  his  own  house,  on  which  oc 
casions  Sir  William  conversed  with  him  in  "  the  most 
affable,  familiar,  and  friendly  manner." 

At  length,  near  the  end  of  April,  1724,  a  vessel  was 
advertised  for  Boston.  Governor  Keith  prepared  a 
long  and  elaborate  letter  to  Benjamin's  father,  in  which 
he  spoke  of  his  son  in  the  strongest  terms  of  commen 
dation,  and  urged  the  proposed  plan,  with  great  earnest 
ness,  as  being  not  only  every  way  eligible  for  the  young 
printer,  but  as  most  likely  to  lay  the  foundation  for  his 
permanent  prosperity;  and  Benjamin,  assigning  to 
Keimer,  as  the  reason  of  his  going,  a  strong  desire  to 
visit  his  relations,  took  his  leave,  and  embarked  for  his 
native  town,  having  completed  the  eighteenth  year  of 
liis  age,  in  the  preceding  January.  In  Delaware  bay 
they  struck  a  shoal  and  started  a  leak.  This  and  rough 
weather  at  sea  kept  the  pumps  going,  Benjamin  taking 
his  turn ;  but  in  two  weeks  they  reached  Boston  in 
safety. 


52  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

HIS  VISIT    TO    BOSTON    AND    RETURN   TO  PHILADELPHIA. 

IT  was  now  seven  months  since  Benjamin  had  left 
horrte  without  the  knowledge  of  any  of  his  relatives,  and 
during  all  that  time  they  had  received  no  tidings  of  him; 
for  his  brother-in-law,  Captain  Holmes,  had  not  yet  re 
turned  to  Boston,  since  his  correspondence  with  Benja 
min,  while  at  Newcastle,  nor  had  he  said  anything  con 
cerning  him,  in  his  letters.  His  appearance,  therefore, 
took  his  parents  and  other  friends  by  surprise.  They 
were,  nevertheless,  glad  to  see  him  again,  and  they  all 
gave  him  a  cordial  welcome  home,  except  only  his 
brother  James,  the  printer.  In  his  own  narrative, 
Franklin  says  :  "I  went  to  see  him  at  his  printing- 
house.  I  was  better  dressed  than  ever  while  in  his  ser 
vice,  having  a  genteel  new  suit  from  head  to  foot,  a 
watch,  and  my  pockets  lined  with  near  five  pounds  ster 
ling,  in  silver.  He  received  me  not  very  frankly,  looked 
me  all  over,  and  turned  to  his  work  again." 

This  sullen  coldness  of  James,  however,  did  not  chill 
the  hands  in  the  office,  who  received  their  former  work- 
fellow  and  companion,  now  returned  from  his  travels, 
in  a  very  different  spirit.  They  gave  him  a  hearty 
greeting,  and  crowded  round  him  eager  to  learn  where  he 
had  been,  what  he  had  seen,  what  he  had  been  doing,  and 
especially  howhe  liked  the  place  where  he  had  been  work 
ing  at  his  trade,  and  what  encouragements  it  offered  in 

> 


DECISION    AGAINST    THE    NEW    PROJECT.  53 

that  line.  Benjamin  cheerfully  answered  their  inquiries, 
spoke  warmly  in  praise  of  Philadelphia  and  of  the  hap 
py  life  he  led  there,  and  in  strong  terms  declared  his 
intention  to  return  thither.  On  being  asked  by  one  of 
the  hands,  what  sort  of  money  was  commonly  in  use 
there,  he  replied  by  spreading  a  handful  of  silver  coin 
before  them,  which,  as  he  remarks,  was  "  a  kind  of 
raree-show  they  had  not  been  used  to,"  the  currency  in 
Boston,  at  that  period,  consisting  almost  exclusively  of 
paper-money.  He  then  showed  them  his  watch  ;  and 
finally,  observing  the  sullen  demeanor  of  his  brother,  he 
gave  them  a  dollar  to  regale  themselves  with,  and  took 
his  leave. 

These  things,  as  it  afterward  appeared,  offended  his 
brother  deeply  ;  for  when  their  excellent  mother  sub 
sequently  took  an  opportunity  to  speak  to  him  of  recon 
ciliation,  expressing  her  earnest  desire  to  see  them  liv 
ing  together  in  mutual  kindness,  as  brothers  should, 
James  replied  to  her,  says  Benjamin,  "that  I  had  in 
sulted  him  in  such  a  manner,  before  his  people,  that  he 
could  never  forget  or  forgive  it."  It  is  gratifying  to  re 
cord,  however,  that  in  the  last  particular  James  was  mis 
taken,  and  that  the  two  brothers  became  ultimately  rec 
onciled. 

Josiah  Franklin,  the  father,  read  Governor  Keith's 
letter,  as  might  well  be  supposed,  with  no  little  surprise. 
Being  a  circumspect  and  prudent  man,  however,  he  de 
ferred  saying  much  about  it  to  Benjamin,  until  he  could 
see  his  son-in-law,  Captain  Holmes,  to  whom,  when  he 
got  back  to  Boston,  he  immediately  showed  the  letter, 
and  made  very  particular  inquiries  of  him  as  to  Keith's 
character;  expressing  much  doubt  of  his  discretion, 
from  his  having  proposed  to  place  so  young  a  person  as 
Benjamin,  in  so  responsible  a  situation  ;  and  entering 
fully  into  the  consideration  of  the  whole  matter. 

5* 


54  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

Holmes,  who  felt  a  warm  regard  for  his  young  brother- 
in-law  and  had  formed  a  high  estimate  of  his  abilities, 
presented,  in  favor  of  the  project,  such  reasons  as  his 
knowledge  of  Philadelphia  and  of  the  prospects  of 
business  in  that  quarter,  as  well  as  the  capacity  of  Ben 
jamin  and  the  esteem  in  which  he  was  held,  could  sup 
ply.  But  the  clear  understanding  and  solid  judgment 
of  the  father  not  being  convinced,  he  at  length,  after 
due  deliberation,  gave  an  unqualified  decision  against 
the  proposed  scheme,  and  wholly  refused  to  render  his 
assistance  to  carry  it  into  effect.  He  stated  this  deter 
mination,  in  very  civil  language,  in  a  letter  to  Governor 
Keith,  in  which  he  thanked  him  for  the  countenance  he 
had  given  his  son,  and  for  the  patronage  he  had  so 
kindly  promised  him  ;  placing  his  own  decision  in  the 
case,  on  the  ground  that  his  son  was  too  young  and  in 
experienced  safely  to  encounter  the  responsibilities  of  a 
business,  which  required  such  considerable  means  to  es 
tablish  it,  and  so  much  care,  discretion,  and  steadiness, 
to  manage  it  successfully. 

But,  though  such  was  the  decision  concerning  the  pro 
posed  plan,  yet  Benjamin  was  largely  compensated,  for 
the  disappointment  of  any  hopes  he  might  have  indulged, 
in  that  respect,  by  the  deep  gratification  his  father  plain 
ly  manifested,  at  finding  that  his  son  had  not  only  been 
able  to  win  the  notice  and  esteem  of  a  person  of  such 
distinction  as  Sir  William  Keith,  but  that  he  had  also 
been  able,  by  his  industry  and  frugality,  to  provide  for 
himself  so  well,  in  so  short  a  time.  These  circum 
stances,  together  with  the  embittered  state  of  feeling 
on  the  part  of  James,  which  rendered  any  harmonious 
co-operation  between  the  two  brothers  hopeless,  at  least 
for  the  present,  induced  the  father  to  give  his  ready 
consent  to  Benjamin's  return  to  Philadelphia;  accom 
panying  that  consent  with  his  advice  to  the  young  man 


PARENTAL  LOVE  AND  COUNSEL.  55 

to  check  his  propensity  to  satire ;  to  seek  the  esteem 
and  goodwill  of  the  community  by  a  respectful  and  con 
ciliatory  deportment;  and  to  treat  all  subjects  of  grave 
import,  with  the  considerate  sobriety  due  to  them,  and 
with  that  deference  to  the  feelings  as  well  as  the  opin 
ions  of  others,  which  is,  in  truth,  the  duty  of  all,  but 
is  peculiarly  becoming  in  the  young. 

To  this  sound  and  apposite  counsel,  the  father,  as 
mindful  of  his  love  as  of  his  duty,  added  the  encour 
aging  suggestion,  that  his  son,  "  by  steady  industry  and 
prudent  parsimony,"  might,  by  the  time  he  would  be 
twenty-one,  save  from  his  earnings  nearly  or  quite 
enough  to  set  himself  up  in  business,  with  his  own  in 
dependent  means  ;  but  that  if,  in  faithfully  pursuing 
such  a  course,  he  should  fall  somewhat  short  of  the  sum 
requisite  for  so  important  a  purpose,  he  would  himself, 
in  that  case,  supply  the  deficiency. 

"  This  was  all  I  could  obtain,"  says  Franklin,  "  except 
some  small  gifts,  as  tokens  of  his  and  my  mother's  love, 
when  I  embarked  again  for  New  York — now  with  their 
approbation  and  blessing."  And  better  to  the  youth 
were  those  tokens  of  parental  love,  and  that  parental 
blessing,  than  could  have  been,  at  that  period  of  his 
life,  the  readiest  consent  to  the  proposed  undertaking, 
with  the  most  ample  supply  of  money  only,  to  carry  it 
forward. 

The  observant  and  sagacious  father,  who  had'long 
been  watching  the  growth  of  his  son's  character,  and 
the  form  it  was  receiving  from  its  predominant  elements 
as  they  unfolded,  though  he  looked  on  with  a  cheering 
hope,  yet  clearly  saw  that  the  gifted  youth  intrusted  to 
his  care,  needed  a  fuller  experience  of  himself,  not  less 
than  of  others,  and  a  judgment  more  exercised  in  the 
actual  concerns  of  life,  as  well  as  more  settled  princi 
ples  and  habits  of  action,  before  he  could  safely  en coun- 


56  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

ter  the  responsibilities  of  business,  or  even  secure  that 
confidence,  on  the  part  of  the  community,  which  is  as 
necessary  as  money,  to  permanent  success  in  the  man 
agement  of  private  affairs.  The  events  of  only  a  few 
quick  following  years,  showed  Benjamin,  very  plainly, 
that  his  father  had,  on  this  occasion,  decided  wisely  ; 
and  the  union  of  considerate  kindness,  prudence,  and 
firmness,  so  happily  blended  in  the  conduct  of  his  father, 
throughout  this  whole  affair,  presents  a  beautiful  exam 
ple  of  the  true  paternal  character. 

While  waiting  in  Boston  for  his  father's  decision,  as 
related,  Benjamin  renewed  his  intercourse  with  his  for 
mer  companion,  Collins,  who  was  now  employed  as  a 
clerk  in  the  postoifice  in  that  town ;  and  who  became  so 
much  smitten  with  Benjamin's  description  of  Philadel 
phia,  of  his  associates,  and  his  way  of  life  there,  that  he 
resolved  to  transfer  himself  to  the  same  place. 

Collins  had  accumulated  what,  for  a  youth  in  his  cir 
cumstances  was  a  considerable  and  valuable  collection  of 
books,  chiefly  on  mathematics  and  natural  philosophy. 
Leaving  these  to  go  on,  by  water,  with  Benjamin's  books 
and  under  his  charge,  and  wishing  to  visit  some  friends  in 
Rhode  Island,  Collins  quitted  Boston  first,  intending  to 
go  by  land  to  New  York,  where  the  two  friends  were 
again  to  meet  and  proceed  to  Philadelphia  together. 

It  has  already  been  related  that,  while  Benjamin  was 
still  employed  as  a  boy  in  his  father's  shop,  his  brother 
John  had  married  and  gone  to  settle  himself  in  busi 
ness,  in  Rhode  Island.  As  the  sloop,  in  which  Benja 
min  now  took  passage  for  New  York,  touched  at  New 
port,  it  gave  him  the  very  gratifying  opportunity  of 
again  seeing  John,  who  "  received  him  very  affection 
ately,  for  he  had  always  loved  him." 

While  at  Newport,  a  friend  of  his  brother,  by  the  name 
of  Vernon,  who  had  a  debt  of  about  thirty-five  pounds 


QUAKER  MATRON'S  WARNING.  57 

due  to  him  in  Pennsylvania,  gave  Benjamin  an  order  to 
collect  and  retain  it,  until  he  should  receive  directions 
from  Vernon  how  to  dispose  of  the  money.  This  agen 
cy,  before  it  was  over,  occasioned  him  a  great  deal  of 
uneasiness  ;  and  it  will  be  again  mentioned,  for  the  sake 
of  the  practical  lesson  —  more  valuable  than  the  money 
in  question  —  which  the  circumstances  connected  with  it 
will  furnish. 

The  service,  which,  on  the  day  of  his  first  arrival  in 
Philadelphia,  Benjamin  received  from  a  worthy  young 
Quaker,  in  the  well-principled  kindness  with  which  the 
latter  showed  him  to  a  respectable  tavern,  is  doubtless 
remembered  by  the  reader.  He  is  now  about  to  receive 
another  and  somewhat  similar,  but  more  important  fa 
vor,  from  another  conscientious  and  benevolent  individ 
ual  of  the  same  exemplary  class  of  people.  The  cir 
cumstances  alluded  to,  are  related  by  Franklin  in  the 
following  passage : — 

"  At  Newport  we  took  in  a  number  of  passengers, 
among  whom  were  two  young  women,  travelling  togeth 
er,  and  a  sensible  matron-like  Quaker-lady,  with  her  ser 
vants.  I  had  shown  an  obliging  disposition  to  render 
her  some  little  services,  which  probably  impressed  her 
with  sentiments  of  goodwill  toward  me;  for  when  she 
witnessed  the  daily-growing  familiarity  between  the 
young  women  and  myself,  which  they  appeared  to  en 
courage,  she  took  me  aside  and  said :  '  Young  man,  I 
am  concerned  for  thee,  as  thou  hast  no  friend  with  thee, 
and  seemest  not  to  know  much  of  the  world,  or  of  the 
snares  youth  is  exposed  to.  Depend  upon  it  these  are  very 
bad  women.  I  can  see  it  by  all  their  actions  ;  and  if  thou 
art  not  upon  thy  guard,  they  will  draw  thee  into  some 
danger.  They  are  strangers  to  thee ;  and  I  advise  thee, 
in  a  friendly  concern  for  thy  welfare,  to  have  no  ac 
quaintance  with  them.'  As  I  seemed  at  first  not  to 


58  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN     FRANKLIN. 

think  so  ill  of  them  as  she  did,  she  mentioned  some 
things  she  had  observed  arid  heard,  that  had  escaped 
my  notice,  but  now  convinced  me  she  was  right.  I 
thanked  her  for  her  kind  advice,  and  promised  to  follow 
it.  When  we  arrived  at  New  York  they  told  me  where 
they  lived,  and  invited  me  to  come  and  see  them.  But 
I  avoided  it,  and  it  was  well  I  did  ;  for  the  next  day  the 
captain  missed  a  silver-spoon  and  some  other  things, 
that  had  been  taken  out  of  his  cabin  ;  and  knowing  that 
these  were  a  couple  of  strumpets,  he  got  a  warrant  to 
search  their  lodgings,  found  the  stolen  goods,  and  had 
the  thieves  punished.  So,  though  we  had  escaped  a 
sunken  rock,  which  we  scraped  upon,  in  the  passage,  I 
thought  this  escape  of  rather  more  importance  to  me" 

At  New  York  Benjamin  again  met  his  friend  Collins, 
according  to  arrangement.  Upon  being  now  thrown, 
by  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  into  a  much  closer 
and  more  constant  companionship  with  him,  than  could 
well  take  place  during  his  recent  stay  in  Boston,  he 
found  that  his  friend's  habits  and  character  had  under 
gone  a  most  unhappy  change.  Through  all  the  intimacy 
of  their  boyhood  and  early  youth,  Collins  had  been  es 
teemed  for  his  industry  and  sobriety,  his  amiable  man 
ners  and  love  of  mental  improvement.  He  had,  indeed, 
disclosed  an  uncommon  genius  for  mathematics  and 
the  physical  sciences;  and  having  more  leisure  than 
Benjamin,  for  such  studies,  he  had  not  only  made  greater 
proficiency  in  them,  but  had,  by  his  attainments  therein, 
attracted  the  regard  of  several  men  distinguished  for 
their  learning,  and  had  given  the  most  hopeful  indica 
tions  of  future  eminence. 

After  Benjamin's  elopement  from  Boston,  however, 
the  misguided  Collins  fell  into  the  practice  of  drinking 
brandy,  which  soon  ripening  into  habitual  intemperance, 
led,  as  usual,  to  other  vices;  and  his  friend  on  rejoining 


VISIT    TO    GOVERNOR    BURNET.  59 

him  in  New  York,  was  not  less  grieved,  than  surprised, 
to  discover  that  Collins  had  not  only  been  drunk  every 
day,  since  his  arrival  in  that  city,-  but  had  lost  all  his 
money,  in  gaming  ;  so  that  Benjamin  had  to  pay  for  the 
whole  of  his  board  and  lodging  while  there,  and  his 
expenses  to  Philadelphia.  This,  however,  he  would 
scarcely  have  been  able  to  do,  had  he  not  been  fortu 
nate  enough  to  collect  the  money  due  on  Vernon's  or 
der;  so  heavy  a  drain  had  Collins  made  on  the  purse  of 
his  liberal  friend. 

While  in  New  York,  an  incident  occurred,  which 
made  some  compensation  to  Benjamin  for  the  cost  and 
annoyance  occasioned  by  the  misconduct  of  Collins ; 
and  served  to  deepen,  at  least  in  his  own  mind,  if  not 
in  that  of  his  companion,  the  sense  of  injury  and  degra 
dation,  which  inevitably  result  from  the  habit  of  intem 
perate  drinking.  The  incident  was  long  afterward  re 
lated  by  Benjamin  as  follows  : — 

"  The  then  governor  of  New  York,  Burnet  (son  of 
Bishop  Burnet),  hearing  from  the  captain  that  one  of 
his  passengers  had  a  great  many  books  on  board,  de 
sired  him  to  bring  me  to  see  him.  I  waited  on  him,  and 
should  have  taken  Collins  with  me,  if  he  had  been  sober. 
The  governor  received  me  with  great  civility  ;  showed 
me  his  library,  which  was  a  considerable  one ;  and  we 
had  a  good  deal  of  conversation  relative  to  books  and 
authors.  This  was  the  second  governor,  who  had  done 
me  the  honor  to  take  notice  of  me  ;  and  for  a  poor  boy, 
like  me,  it  was  very  pleasing." 

Unhappy,  besotted  Collins  !  He  was  as  highly  gifted 
as  his  friend ;  he  possessed  at  that  period  of  their  lives, 
more  science,  and  a  wider  range  of  literary  acquire 
ments  ;  and  had  become  not  a  little  distinguished  for  the 
uncommon  fluency,  grace,  eloquence,  variety,  and  spirit 
of  his  conversation.  And  though  he,  too,  was  "  a  poor 


60  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

boy>"  yet,  if  his  habits  and  personal  condition  had  not 
rendered  him,  with  all  his  rare  gifts  and  attainments, 
unfit  for  any  personal  intercourse  with  people  of  culti 
vation  and  refinement,  dignity  of  character  and  purity 
of  manners,  how  still  more  remarkable  would  have  been 
that  interview,  in  the  apartment  of  Governor  Burnet's 
library,  with  two  such  representatives  of  the  young  gen 
eration  then  verging  to  maturity,  pressing  forward  to  a 
fame  destined  to  be  won  in  upholding  the  public  liber 
ties,  or  in  serving  and  adorning  their  country  by  their 
literary  accomplishments  and  performances,  or  by  ad 
vancing  the  limits  of  human  knowledge  ! 


COLLINS    BORROWS    VERNON's    MONEY.  61 


CHAPTER  VII. 

VERNON'S  MONEY — COLLINS — SIR  WILLIAM  KEITH — MISS 
READ. 

ON  reaching  Philadelphia,  Collins  endeavored  to  pro 
cure  a  clerkship  in  some  counting-house ;  but  his  aspect, 
or  manner,  or  dram-flavored  breath,  or  all  together,  must 
have  betrayed  him ;  for  although  he  had  brought  recom 
mendations,  and  though,  but  for  his  fatal  habit,  these 
recommendations  would  probably  have  been  superfluous, 
yet  his  applications  for  a  place  were  unsuccessful ;  so 
that  he  continued  living  at  the  expense  of  his  generous 
friend,  and  at  the  same  house  with  him. 

It  was  still  further  unlucky  for  the  latter,  that  Collins 
was  aware  of  his  having  collected  Vernon's  debt ;  inas 
much  as  he  managed  to  borrow,  from  time  to  time,  in 
petty  sums,  to  be  returned  "  as  soon  as  he  should  be  in 
business,"  so  much  of  that  fund  as  to  occasion,  before 
long,  no  little  distress  to  Benjamin,  especially  when  it 
occurred  to  him  that  he  might  be  suddenly  required  to 
pay  it  over  to  the  owner. 

His  compliance,  in  this  matter,  with  the  importuni 
ties  of  Collins,  was  the  weakest  act  Benjamin  had  yet 
done.  Although  that  compliance  proceeded,  doubtless, 
from  a  warm  feeling  of  kindness  for  an  old  friend, 
wholly  unmingled  with  any  conscious  intent  to  do  an 
act  morally  wrong,  and  though  the  language  of  Vernon, 

6 


62  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

when  giving  him  authority  to  collect  the  debt,  conveyed 
a  plain  implication  that  the  money  would  not  be  wanted 
for  a  considerable  time,  yet  the  distress  of  mind,  ari 
sing  from  the  inborn  sense  of  right  and  wrong,  which 
Benjamin  shortly  began  to  suffer,  was  the  sure  token, 
that,  however  amiable  had  been  his  impulse,  and  how 
ever  clear  his  motives  from  deliberate  intent  to  injure, 
he  had,  nevertheless,  weakly  allowed  himself  to  be  led 
to  do,  what  amounted,  in  point  of  fact,  to  a  breach  of 
trust. 

Such,  in  its  naked  truth,  was  the  nature  of  the  act  in 
in  question ;  and  it  is  only  one  of  the  many  evidences,  pre 
sented  in  Franklin's  life  and  writings,  of  that  rigorous 
self-scrutiny  and  manly  candor,  which  strongly  marked 
his  character,  that  he  has,  in  his  own  account  of  his  ca 
reer,  taken  of  this  affair  substantially,  though  briefly,  the 
same  view,  which  is  here  presented  somewhat  more 
at  length  and  with  more  emphasis.  And  it  is  thus  pre 
sented  here,  for  the  urgent  reason  that,  in  the  ordinary 
and  daily  transactions  of  life,  there  is,  it  is  believed,  no 
one  form  of  error  in  conduct,  so  common  as  the  very 
one  here  considered;  not  one,  into  which  persons,  in 
every  class  of  society  and  every  condition  of  fortune, 
are  so  frequently  drawn  by  the  specious  impulses  of 
amiable  feeling,  honest  intention,  and  the  various  plau 
sible  fallacies  of  self-delusion ;  not  one,  which  has,  first 
and  last,  made  such  havoc  of  personal  honor  and  good- 
name,  of  private  and  public  obligation,  or  of  domestic 
peace  and  happiness,  as  this  identical  error — no,  not  one. 

For  the  sake  of  the  warning,  furnished  by  the  char 
acter  and  termination  of  the  brief  career  of  a  youth  of 
such  brilliant  early  promise,  as  Collins,  the  remainder 
of  all  that  is  known  of  him,  is  here  presented. 

In  spite  of  remonstrance,  enforced  by  pecuniary  des 
titution  and  dependence,  Collins  continued  to  indulge  his 


BEHAVIOR    AND    FATE    OF    COLLINS.  63 

thirst  for  strong  drink  ;  and  being  very  irritable  and  inso 
lent  when  tipsy,  he  sometimes  wrangled  even  with  the 
friend  who  had  treated  him  so  generously.  An  instance 
of  this  sort  is  related  by  that  friend,  to  the  following 
effect :  They  were  in  a  boat,  on  the  Delaware,  with 
several  other  young  men,  one  afternoon,  when  Collins, 
under  the  influence  of  spirituous  liquor  just  enough  to 
carry  his  perverse  wilfulness  to  its  utmost  point  of  un 
reasonableness,  refused  to  take  his  turn  at  the  oar.  "  I 
will  be  rowed  home,"  said  he.  "  We  will  not  row  you," 
said  Benjamin.  "  You  must,"  replied  Collins,  "  or  stay 
all  night  on  the  water,  just  as  you  please."  For  the 
sake  of  quiet,  the  other  young  men  said  —  "  Let  us  row; 
what  matters  it?"  But  Benjamin,  justly  indignant  at 
such  arrogance,  persisted  in  his  determination  not  to 
submit  to  it ;  whereupon  Collins  swore  he  would  make 
him  row,  or  throw  him  overboard ;  and  forthwith  stri 
ding  toward  him  on  the  benches  of  the  boat,  aimed  at 
him  a  blow,  which  Benjamin  avoided  by  suddenly  bend 
ing  forward  ;  and  at  the  same  instant  dexterously  thrust 
ing  his  head  under  Collins's  thigh,  pitched  him  into  the 
river.  Knowing  him  to  be  an  excellent  swimmer,  Ben 
jamin  felt  no  concern  about  his  drowning,  and  so  kept 
the  boat  playing  around  him,  but  just  out  of  his  reach, 
with  the  design,  and  in  the  hope,  of  constraining  him 
to  promise  that  he  would,  if  taken  back  into  the  boat, 
do  his  fair  share  of  the  rowing.  But  Collins,  full  of 
ire,  though  ready  to  choke  with  vexation  and  river- 
water,  obstinately  refused  to  make  the  required  prom 
ise  ;  till  at  last,  when  his  strength  was  well  nigh  spent, 
and  he  began  to  be  in  some  real  danger,  he  was  drawn 
into  the  boat,  unsubdued,  chilled,  and  sullen. 

This  affair  put  an  end  to  all  free  and  cordial  inter 
course  between  the  two,  who  had  been  so  long  held  in 
bands  of  the  most  intimate  companionship. 


64  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

Not  a  very  long  time  after,  the  master  of  a  vessel 
trading  to  the  West  Indies,  who  had  been  commissioned 
to  procure  a  tutor  for  the  sons  of  an  opulent  planter  of 
the  island  of  Barbadoes,  fell  into  company  with  Collins, 
and  after  a  very  short  acquaintance  engaged  him  for  the 
situation  mentioned.  Before  going,  he  promised  to 
avail  himself  of  the  first  money  he  should  receive,  to 
remit  the  amount  of  his  debt  to  Benjamin.  But  this  he 
never  did ;  and  the  friend,  whose  bounty  he  had  so  un 
worthily  enjoyed  and  abused,  never  heard  of  him  more. 

It  is  saddening  to  think  how  so  brilliant  a  light,  just 
kindled  and  beginning  to  beam  in  beauty,  was  so  pre 
maturely  quenched ;  and  the  contrast  presented  by  the 
history  of  these  two  youths,  in  its  bearing  on  the  mo 
mentous  duty  of  self-control,  furnishes  the  young  with 
a  lesson,  which  combines  the  repellent  force  of  the  most 
solemn  warning,  with  the  healthful  and  cheering  incite 
ments  of  the  most  honorable  and  splendid  success. 

But,  to  return  from  this  digression,  Benjamin,  it  may 
well  be  presumed,  took  the  earliest  opportunity,  after 
coming  back  to  Philadelphia,  to  wait  on  Governor  Keith 
and  deliver  his  father's  letter.  Sir  William,  when  he 
had  possessed  himself  of  the  views  which  the  letter  pre 
sented,  insisted  that  the  writer  was  over-cautious,  and 
did  not  give  sufficient  weight  to  the  intrinsic  differences 
in  the  personal  characters  of  men ;  that  "  discretion  did 
not  always  accompany  years,  nor  was  youth  always 
without  it;"  but,  said  he  to  Benjamin,  "since  your 
father  will  not  set  you  up,  I  will  do  it  myself.  Give  me 
an  inventory  of  the  things  necessary  to  be  had  from 
England,  and  I  will  send  for  them.  You  shall  repay  me 
when  you  are  able.  I  am  resolved  to  have  a  good  print 
er  here,  and  I  am  sure  you  must  succeed." 

Sir  William  spoke,  on  this  occasion,  as  he  had  spoken 
and  acted  from  the  beginning,  with  such  cordial  warmth 


CONDUCT    OF    SIR    WILLIAM    KEITH.  65 

and  apparent  sincerity,  that  Benjamin  could  not  doubt 
that  he  was  thoroughly  in  earnest.  He  therefore  looked 
on  Governor  Keith  as  one  of  the  best  and  most  gener 
ous  of  men  ;  and  went  with  a  cheerful  spirit  to  prepare 
a  list  of  such  articles,  and  their  quantities,  as  would  be 
requisite  to  open  a  printing-office,  on  a  moderate  scale, 
but  still  sufficient  for  the  business  of  the  place,  at  the 
time  ;  and  amounting,  by  his  estimate,  to  about  one  hun 
dred  pounds  sterling. 

The  list  being  laid  before  Sir  William,  he  expressed 
his  approval  of  it ;  but  suggested  that  Benjamin  had 
better  go  himself  to  London,  for  the  materials  wanted, 
inasmuch  as,  by  being  on  the  spot,  he  could  not  only 
suit  himself  exactly,  both  as  to  variety  and  quality,  but 
he  could  form  acquaintances,  and  make  arrangements 
for  correspondence  in  business,  which  would  prove  very 
advantageous  to  his  permanent  interests. 

As  the  correctness  of  such  a  view  could  not  be  gain 
said,  the  governor  concluded  the  interview,  by  tell 
ing  Benjamin  to  get  himself  ready  to  go  out  in  the 
Annis,  which  was  the  regular  packet  between  Philadel 
phia  and  London,  and,  in  those  times,  made  a  passage, 
each  way,  annually. 

As  the  Annis,  however,  was  not  to  sail  for  several 
months,  Benjamin,  keeping  his  own  counsel,  continued 
working  as  usual  for  Keimer ;  but  chafing  in  spirit, 
with  self-reproach,  on  account  of  the  money  he  had  per 
mitted  Collins  to  wheedle  from  him,  and  tormented  with 
growing  apprehension  of  a  sudden  draft  upon  him,  from 
Vernon,  for  the  whole  sum.  Fortunately,  however,  Ver- 
non  did  not  make  that  draft  till  some  years  later. 

It  will  be  recollected  that  Benjamin,  while  working, 
as  an  apprentice,  for  his  brother  James,  adopted  the 
practice  of  feeding  exclusively  on  vegetable  diet.  He 
adhered  faithfully  to  that  practice,  until,  on  his  late  voy- 

6* 


66  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

age  from  Philadelphia  to  Boston,  circumstances  occur 
red  which  induced  him  to  give  it  up.  On  that  voyage, 
the  vessel,  when  off  Block  island,  was  becalmed  ;  where 
upon  the  sailors,  getting  out  their  fishing-tackle,  went 
to  catching  cod,  of  which  they  took  a  great  many. 

Though  Benjamin  had,  for  a  considerable  time,  been 
holding  the  doctrine  of  his  dietetical  guide,  Tryon,  that 
it  was  wrong  to  make  food  of  anything  that  once  had 
lived,  and  though  he  had,  therefore,  regarded  the  taking 
of  these  cod,  as  an  indefensible  destruction  of  the  great 
gift  of  life  ;  yet  he  had,  also,  at  an  earlier  day  and  for  a 
longer  period,  been  exceedingly  fond  of  fish  ;  and  when 
the  sailors,  quitting  catching  for  cooking,  made  a  fry  of 
some  noble  cod  fresh  from  the  deep  cool  waters,  the 
warm  steam  from  the  pan  greeted  his  smell  with  so 
rich  a  flavor,  as  mightily  to  shake  his  exclusive  faith  in 
vegetables. 

While  he  was  still  balancing,  as  he  relates,  between 
principle  and  inclination,  he  suddenly  recollected  that, 
when  these  cod  were  opened,  he  saw  smaller  fish  taken 
from  their  stomachs.  This  flagrant  fact  determined  him. 
If  these  fish  feed  upon  each  other,  why  might  not  he 
feed  upon  them;  and  so,  satisfying  his  understanding 
with  the  law  of  retaliation,  he  straightway  satisfied  his 
appetite  with  a  delicious  meal  of  fried  cod. 

From  that  time  forward,  he  ceased  to  exclude  fish,  or 
flesh,  from  his  customary  food  ;  resorting  to  a  merely 
vegetable  diet,  only  when  the  state  of  his  health  seemed 
to  ask  for  some  temporary  change  of  regimen.  "  So 
convenient  a  thing  it  is,"  he  pithily  remarks,  "  to  be  a 
reasonable  creature ;  since  it  enables  one  to  find,  or  to 
make,  a  reason  for  everything  one  has  a  mind  to  do." 

During  the  months  in  which  Benjamin  was  waiting, 
in  hope,  for  the  Annis  to  sail  for  England,  his  life  passed 
on  both  pleasantly  and  usefully ;  and  it  will  be  alike  en- 


KEIMER    AND    HIS    NOTIONS.  67 

tertaining  and  proper  to  present  an  outline  of  some  of 
its  more  salient  features. 

He  lived,  in  the  main,  on  good  terms  with  Keimer ; 
for  although  that  eccentric  person  had  a  whimsical  mind, 
and  a  suspicious  and  irritable  temper,  yet,  as  he  knew 
nothing  at  all  of  Benjamin's  plans,  seldom  did  anything 
interpose  itself  to  disturb  their  harmony.  The  young 
journeyman,  moreover,  was  a  quick  and  shrewd  discerner 
of  character,  and  thoroughly  understanding  that  of  his 
employer,  he  had,  in  this  respect,  greatly  the  advantage  ; 
so  that,  while  dealing  with  him  most  uprightly  in  all 
matters  of  business,  in  which  he  was  exceedingly  useful 
to  him,  yet  would  his  quick  perception  and  good-natured 
enjoyment  of  the  ludicrous,  occasionally  lead  him,  in 
various  harmless  forms,  to  make  his  employer's  peculiar 
humors  and  ways  of  thinking  tributary  to  his  own  amuse 
ment. 

Keimer,  without  any  analytical  power  of  mind,  or  any 
real  ability  to  reason,  had,  nevertheless,  what  is  quite  as 
common  with  such  persons,  as  with  truly  skilful  and 
profound  logicians,  an  inordinate  propensity  to  argu 
mentation —  a  propensity  which  no  more  implies  the 
power  of  legitimate  reasoning,  than  cunning  implies 
true  wisdom — and,  for  a  time  at  least,  nothing  seemed 
to  please  him  so  well  as  to  draw  Benjamin  into  discus 
sion.  When  thus  engaged,  the  latter  would  ply  his  an 
tagonist  with  the  Socratic  method,  in  the  use  of  which, 
as  we  have  seen,  he  had  made  himself  very  adroit. 
Pressed  by  this  mode  of  conducting  a  controversy, 
Keimer  pretty  soon  began  to  find  himself  so  frequently 
and  unexpectedly  entangled  in  his  own  concessions,  by 
means  of  questions,  the  bearings  of  which  he  did  not 
perceive,  and  which  seemed  to  him,  when  put,  wholly 
unconnected  with  any  point  under  consideration,  but 
which  were  shortly  seen  to  be  gradually  involving  the 


68  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN     FRANKLIN. 

whole  issue,  and  bringing  him  into  contradictions  and 
other  difficulties,  that  at  last,  says  Franklin,  he  grew  so 
ridiculously  cautious,  that  he  would  hardly  answer  the 
most  common  question,  without  first  asking  —  "What 
do  you  mean  by  that? — What  do  you  intend  to  infer 
from  that  1" 

The  readiness  with  which  Benjamin,  in  these  debates, 
vanquished  his  antagonist,  co-operating  with  the  exalted 
self-esteem  of  the  latter,  led  to  a  singular  result.  Keimer 
received  so  profound  a  conviction  of  the  subtlety  and 
skill  which  had  discomfited  him  and  which  must,  there 
fore,  his  self-complacency  inferred,  yet  more  surely 
overmaster  others,  that  he  now  announced,  with  much 
gravity,  a  scheme  he  had,  he  said,  been  long  meditating, 
for  founding  a  new  sect  in  religion  ;  and  he  zealously 
urged  his  young  journeyman  to  unite  with  him  to  carry 
it  into  effect.  What  the  particular  vagaries  of  Keimer's 
brain  were,  which  were  to  constitute  the  fundamental 
articles  of  the  new  faith,  Franklin  has  very  properly 
deemed  not  worth  recording ;  but  whatever  they  may 
have  been,  Keimer  himself  was  to  be  the  great  pro- 
pounder  and  teacher  of  the  new  doctrines,  while  his 
young  associate  was  to  do  the  controversial  part  and 
shut  the  mouth  of  cavil. 

Of  course  Benjamin's  native  common  sense  did  not 
permit  him  to  give  a  moment's  serious  thought  to  the 
crazy  project ;  but  thinking  it  fair  game  for  ridicule,  he 
affected  to  listen  to  it,  with  the  view  of  extracting  some 
amusement  from  its  projector.  Among  the  external 
badges,  which  were  to  mark  the  disciples  of  the  new 
creed,  Keimer  proposed  to  adopt  two  of  his  own  per 
sonal  customs,  that  of  wearing  the  beard  entire,  and 
that  of  observing  the  seventh  day  of  the  week  as  the 
sabbath. 

Benjamin,  even  at  that  early  age,  entertained  but  a 


NEW    SECT CHANGE    OF    DIET.  69 

poor  opinion  of  all  those  eccentric  whimsies  about  things 
merely  external  and  formal,  which  contain  no  germ  of 
moral  improvement,  to  compensate  for  the  inconveni 
ence  they  occasion,  by  clashing  with  the  prevalent 
usages  of  society ;  and  still  less  did  he  value  anything 
merely  for  its  oddity.  A  stipulation,  however,  not  to 
"  mar  the  corners  of  the  beard,"  could  not  much  em 
barrass  a  youth  of  eighteen;  and  the  observance  of 
Saturday  as  a  day  of  rest,  could  occasion  little  inconve 
nience,  while  he  continued  at  work  where  he  then  was ; 
so  he  allowed  himself  to  accede  to  the  two  propositions 
mentioned,  but  only  on  the  condition,  however,  that  the 
destined  founder  of  the  new  sect  should,  on  his  part, 
renounce  all  animal  food. 

Keimer  winced  at  this  condition,  for  he  was,  as  it 
appears,  uncommonly  partial  to  meat,  and  a  voracious 
feeder.  "  I  doubt  my  constitution  will  not  bear  a  total 
abstinence  from  flesh" — said  the  meat-loving  and  reluct 
ant  Keimer.  "  O,  yes  it  will,  and  you  will  be  the  better 
for  it" — said  Benjamin.  For  the  sake  of  the  new  re 
ligion  and  the  general  welfare,  however,  the  Reformer, 
after  some  hesitation,  consented  to  make  the  proposed 
trial,  provided  his  fellow-laborer  would  join  him  in  it;  to 
which  the  latter  promptly  agreed. 

The  compact  thus  made,  was  adhered  to,  as  Franklin 
states,  for  three  months  ;  the  provisions  being  procured, 
cooked,  and  served  to  them,  by  a  woman  dwelling  near 
by,  pursuant  to  a  list,  furnished  by  Benjamin,  descri 
bing  "  forty  dishes  into  which  there  entered  neither 
fish,  flesh,  nor  fowl."  This  diet  had  the  further  recom 
mendation  that  it  cost  them  barely  "  eighteen-pence  ster 
ling  each,  per  week."  Benjamin  went  on  very  comfor 
tably  under  the  new  victualling  compact;  "but  poor 
Keimer  suffered  grievously,  grew  tired  of  the  project, 
longed  for  the  flesh-pots  of  Egypt,  and  ordered  a  roast 


70  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

pig."  Benjamin  and  two  other  acquaintances  were  in 
vited  to  the  feast  on  this  occasion  ;  but  the  dinner  hap 
pening  to  be  served  rather  early,  Keimer  was  unable  to 
resist  the  savory  temptation,  and  before  the  guests  ar 
rived,  eat  up  the  pig. 

In  relating  these  incidents  Franklin  states  that,  in  the 
subsequent  course  of  his  life,  he  "  kept  Lent,"  at  vari 
ous  times,  in  the  strictest  manner,  abruptly  quitting  his 
ordinary  diet,  and  as  abruptly  returning  to  it ;  and  hav 
ing  done  so  without  any  injury  whatever,  he  concluded 
that  the  usual  advice  to  make  such  changes  gradually, 
was  of  little  value. 

Another  affair,  however,  was  going  on,  at  this  period, 
of  far  more  serious  import  to  the  parties,  than  anything 
connected  with  the  fantastic  Keimer.  This  was  Benja 
min's  courtship  of  Miss  Read,  for  whom  he  had  begun 
to  cherish  "  a  great  respect  and  affection,  and  had  some 
reasons  to  believe  that  she  had  the  same"  for  him.  But 
they  were  yet  very  young,  each  having  seen  little  more 
than  eighteen  years,  and  he  being  about  to  undertake 
a  distant  voyage,  uncertain  as  to  its  results. 

Under  such  circumstances,  the  prudent  mother  of 
Miss  Read  interposed  so  far  as  to  caution  the  young 
people  against  involving  themselves  in  any  needless  en 
gagements,  which  would,  at  that  time,  be  deemed  inju 
dicious,  and  which  might  subsequently  become  the  oc 
casion  of  embarrassment  and  regret ;  adding  that,  how 
ever  much  disposed  they  might  be  to  marry,  and  however 
unobjectionable  such  a  union  might  be  ultimately  con 
sidered,  it  would  be  best,  at  least,  to  defer  it,  until  after 
Benjamin's  return  from  England,  when  his  condition 
would  be  more  settled,  and  he  would  better  understand 
his  own  prospects.  The  mother's  advice  was  substan 
tially  followed. 


HIS    ASSOCIATES.  71 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
BENJAMIN'S  WAY  OF   LIFE — SAILS  FOR  ENGLAND. 

BY  this  time,  also,  Benjamin  had  formed  several  val 
uable  as  well  as  agreeable  acquaintances  among  persons 
of  his  own  sex  and  time  of  life.  Of  the  young  men, 
who  had  become  his  principal  and  most  intimate  asso 
ciates,  he  has  given  the  names  of  Charles  Osborne,  Jo 
seph  Watson,  and  James  Ralph  — "  all  lovers  of  read 
ing" —  and  obviously,  from  his  account  of  them,  all  of 
them  possessing  more  than  ordinary  abilities  and  attain 
ments.  Osborne  and  Watson,  it  appears,  were  clerks 
in  the  office  of  Charles  Brockden,  a  very  reputable  con 
veyancer;  and  Ralph  was  a  clerk  in  a  respectable  mer 
cantile  house. 

Of  Watson  he  relates  that  he  "was  a  pious,  sensible 
young  man,  of  great  integrity ;  and  although  the  other 
two  were  "  more  lax  in  their  principles  of  religion," 
yet,  in  other  respects,  they  seem  clearly  to  have  been 
attractive  companions.  Osborne  is  described  as  "  sen 
sible,  candid,  frank ;  sincere  and  affectionate  to  his 
friends;  but,  in  literary  matters,  too  fond  of  criticism  ;" 
Ralph  as  being  easy  and  graceful  in  his  manners,  inge 
nious,  eloquent,  and  a  particularly  agreeable  talker;  and 
both,  not  only  great  lovers  of  poetry,  but  occasionally 
trying  their  own  skill  in  verse. 

In  the  occasional  conversation  of  these  young  men, 


72  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN     FRANKLIN. 

respecting  their  tastes,  and  views  in  life,  Ralph,  it  ap 
pears,  showed  a  strong  predilection  for  poetry,  and  de 
clared  his  confident  belief  that,  by  cultivating  it  assid 
uously,  he  could  win  both  fame  and  fortune.  Osborne 
thought  differently,  and  urged  his  friend  to  apply  him 
self  strictly  to  business  ;  insisting  that  he  had  no  true 
genius  for  poetry,  but  that  by  making  himself  an  accom 
plished  merchant  and  accountant,  he  might,  though  with 
out  capital,  obtain  the  agency  of  some  wealthy  house, 
and  in  time  become  a  partner,  or  acquire  the  means  of 
trading  on  his  own  account.  Franklin  adhered  to  the 
opinion,  which,  as  has  been  seen,  he  had  formed  years 
before,  that  it  was  useful  to  cultivate  poetry,  or  practise 
versification,  for.the  sake  of  acquiring  a  readier  com 
mand  of  language  and  a  more  varied  power  of  expres 
sion  ;  but  no  further. 

The  declaration  of  these  opinions  led  to  a  proposal 
that  they  should,  at  their  next  meeting,  each  present  a 
performance  in  verse,  composed  by  himself,  to  be  sub 
mitted  to  their  respective  critical  remarks,  for  the  sake 
of  mutual  improvement.  The  object  being  improve 
ment  in  language  and  style  simply,  it  was  agreed  that 
invention,  or  originality  of  conception,  was  not  to  be 
considered ;  and,  in  order  to  confine  themselves  strictly 
to  the  end  in  view,  they  appointed  for  their  task,  the 
eighteenth  psalm,  describing  the  descent  of  Deity,  to 
be  rendered  in  verse. 

A  day  or  two  before  the  next  meeting,  Ralph  called 
on  Franklin,  showed  him  his  performance,  which  was 
exceedingly  well  done,  and  finding  that  Franklin  had 
been  too  busy  to  prepare  anything  himself  for  the  meet 
ing,  Ralph  proposed  a  trap  for  Osborne,  to  expose  his 
hypercritical  spirit,  and  bring  home,  to  his  own  con 
sciousness,  a  clear  perception  of  his  undue  propensity 
to  cavil.  "Osborne  will  never  allow  the  least  merit  in 


A    TRAP    FOR    OSBORNE.  73 

anything  of  mine,"  said  Ralph,  "  but  makes  a  thousand 
criticisms  out  of  mere  envy.  He  is  not  so  jealous  of 
you.  I  wish,  therefore,  you  would  produce  this  piece 
as  yours.  I  will  pretend  not  to  have  had  time,  and  will 
produce  nothing.  We  shall  then  hear  what  he  will  say 
to  it."  This  was  agreed  to  ;  and  Franklin  transcribed 
the  piece,  so  that  it  should  appear  in  his  own  hand-wri 
ting.  The  result  is  given  in  Franklin's  own  words,  as 
follows  : — 

"We  met;  Watson's  performance  was  read;  there 
were  some  beauties  in  it,  but  many  defects.  Osborne's 
was  much  belter;  Ralph  did  it  justice  ;  remarked  some 
faults,  but  applauded  the  beauties.  He  had  himself 
nothing  to  produce.  I  was  backward,  seemed  desirous 
of  being  excused,  had  not- had  sufficient  time  to  correct, 
&c. ;  but  no  excuse  could  be  admitted  ;  produce  I  must. 
It  was  read  and  repeated ;  Watson  and  Osborne  gave 
up  the  contest,  and  joined  in  applauding  it.  Ralph  only 
made  a  few  criticisms,  and  proposed  some  amendments  ; 
but  I  defended  the  text.  Osborn  was  severe  against 
Ralph,  and  told  him  he  was  no  better  able  to  criticise 
than  compose  verses.  As  these  two  were  returning 
home,  Osborne  expressed  himself  still  more  strongly  in 
favor  of  what  he  thought  my  production,  having  before 
refrained,  as  he  said,  lest  1  should  think  he  meant  to 
flatter  me.  '  But  who  could  have  imagined,'  said  he, 
'that  Franklin  was  capable  of  such  a  performance  ;  such 
painting,  such  force,  such  fire  !  In  common  conversa 
tion  he  seems  to  have  no  choice  of  words  ;  he  hesitates 
and  blunders ;  yet  how  he  writes  !'  When  we  next 
met,  Ralph  disclosed  the  trick,  and  Osborne  was  laughed 
at."  A  sufficiently  efficacious  remedy,  one  would  think, 
this  must  have  been,  against  the  further  exhibition  of 
Osborne's  hypercritical  spleen,  at  least  in  presence  of 
the  same  circle  of  companions. 
7 


74  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

In  the  absence  of  any  recorded  notice  of  the  particu 
lar  studies  of  young  Franklin,  at  this  period  of  his  life, 
these  anecdotes  may  furnish  some  indication  that  his 
course  of  reading  must  probably  have  been  as  varied 
and  extensive,  as  the  intervals  of  his  regular  employ 
ment,  and  the  access  to  books,  at  that  day,  in  the  city 
where  he  dwelt,  would  permit ;  and  they  seem  to  claim 
insertion,  not  only  for  that  reason,  nor  merely  as  amu 
sing  incidents,  but  still  more  as  illustrations  of  charac 
ter  and  of  some  of  the  influences  under  which  his  own 
was  then  unfolding. 

Of  the  young  men  just  introduced  to  the  reader,  as 
the  names  of  Watson  and  Osborne  do  not  occur,  in  con 
nection  with  the  subject  of  our  narrative,  at  any  subse 
quent  stage  of  its  progress,  it  may  be  interesting  to 
state,  that  Watson,  to  use  the  words  of  Franklin,  "died 
in  his  arms  a  few  years  later,  much  lamented,  being  the 
best  of  the  set;"  and  that  Osborne  established  himself 
as  a  lawyer,  in  the  West  Indies,  where  he  acquired  both 
distinction  and  wealth,  and  yet  died  in  the  prime  of 
manhood. 

The  connection  of  Ralph,  with  young  Franklin,  con 
tinued  much  longer,  and  was  attended  by  more  serious 
consequences,  which,  however,  do  not  yet  call  for  no 
tice.  It  will  be  sufficient  to  state,  here,  that  his  incli 
nation  to  give  himself  to  poetry,  was  naturally  and  not 
a  little  strengthened  by  the  incident  already  related; 
and,  in  spite  of  dissuasion,  "he  continued  scribbling 
verses,"  says  Franklin,  "  till  Pope  cured  him."  He 
went,  as  will  be  seen,  with  Franklin,  in  the  Annis,  to 
London,  where  he  afterward  passed  most  of  his  life. 
He  acquired  considerable  prominence  as  a  prose  writer, 
and  lived  by  his  pen,  which  he  employed  frequently  in 
the  service  of  the  ministerial  party.  Besides  numerous 
political  pamphlets,  and  some  more  elaborate  historical 


RALPH  —  KEITH'S  LETTERS — MISS  READ.          75 

performances  of  conceded  ability,  he  produced  various 
dramatic  pieces  and  poems  of  less  merit.  Among  these 
last,  was  a  poem  entitled  "  Night,"  and  one  called 
"  Sawney ,"  the  latter  containing  some  abuse  of  Pope 
and  Swift  ;  and  the  cure  above  alluded  to,  was  admin 
istered  in  the  celebrated  "  Dunciad,"  in  the  following 
couplet : — 

"  Silence,  ye  wolves,  while  Ralph  to  Cynthia  howls, 
Making  Night  hideous  ;  answer  him,  ye  owls  !" 

These  particulars  are  gathered  chiefly  from  a  note 
compiled  by  the  vigilant  and  learned  editor  of  the  latest, 
most  complete  and  valuable  edition  of  the  writings  of 
Franklin,  where  it  is  also  stated  that  Ralph  was,  "  for 
many  years,  the  confidential  associate  of  ministers  and 
courtiers  ;"  and  that  a  little  before  his  death,  which  oc 
curred  in  1762,  the  moderate  pension,  on  which  he  had 
long  lived,  was  increased  to  six  hundred  pounds  ster 
ling,  through  the  influence  of  Lord  Bute. 

While  Franklin  was  thus  working  for  Keimer,  and 
occupying  the  greater  part  of  his  leisure  with  books, 
and  with  the  companions  mentioned,  Sir  William  Keith 
continued  his  friendly  attentions  to  him,  inviting  him 
frequently  to  his  house,  often  adverting  to  the  plan  of 
setting  him  up  in  business,  and  always  treating  it  as  "  a 
fixed  thing,"  awaiting  only  the  coming  on  of  time,  to  be 
fully  accomplished.  Sir  William  was  to  furnish  him, 
not  only  with  various  recommendatory  letters  to  efficient 
and  influential  friends  in  London,  but  also  with  a  letter 
of  credit,  on  which  the  money  to  pay  for  the  press, 
types,  and  other  requisite  materials  for  the  new  print 
ing-office,  was  to  be  obtained. 

These  very  essential  documents,  however,  though  of 
ten  promised,  were  as  often  delayed,  from  time  to  time, 
till  the  Annis  was  on  the  very  eve  of  sailing ;  and  even 
then,  when  Benjamin  made  his  last  call,  to  receive  the 


76  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

letters  and  take  leave  of  the  governor,  instead  of  being 
enabled  to  do  either,  Sir  William  sent  out  his  secretary 
to  say  that  he  was  just  then  extremely  busy,  but  that 
he  would  be  down  at  Newcastle  sooner  than  the  ship, 
and  that  the  letters  should  there  be  delivered  to  him. 

Benjamin,  therefore,  after  exchanging  pledges  of  affec 
tion  and  fidelity,  with  Miss  Read,  and  bidding  his  other 
friends  good-by,  went  on  board,  and  the  packet  dropped 
down  the  Delaware  to  Newcastle.  Governor  Keith  was, 
indeed,  there  ;  but  when  Benjamin  once  more  went  to  his 
lodgings,  his  secretary  again  presented  himself,  with  the 
deep  regrets  of  the  governor,  that  business  of  the  ut 
most  importance,  demanding  his  whole  attention  and 
immediate  execution,  so  engrossed  him,  that  it  would 
prevent  his  seeing  his  young  friend,  but  that  he  would 
send  the  letters  for  him  on  board  in  good  season,  and 
wished  him  a  pleasant  voyage  and  a  speedy  return. 
With  this  parting  message,  Benjamin,  not  a  little  puz 
zled,  but  still  confiding,  repaired  on  board  the  Annis. 

The  other  persons,  who  had  taken  passage  for  Eng 
land  in  the  same  vessel,  were  Andrew  Hamilton,  an  em 
inent  lawyer  of  Philadelphia,  and  his  son  James,  who, 
some  years  after,  became  governor  of  the  province  of 
Pennsylvania ;  a  Quaker  merchant  named  Denham ; 
Messrs.  Oniam  and  Russell,  iron-masters,  whose  works 
were  situated  in  Maryland;  and  James  Ralph,  with 
whom  we  already  have  some  acquaintance.  The  entire 
cabin  of  the  Annis  had  been  engaged  by  these  per 
sons,  except  Ralph ;  so  that  he  and  Benjamin  had  to 
bestow  themselves  in  the  steerage,  and  being  unknown 
to  the  other  passengers,  they  were  supposed  to  be  per 
sons  of  little  consequence. 

While  the  packet  was  waiting  at  Newcastle,  however, 
the  Hamiltons  returned  to  Philadelphia,  the  father  having 
been  drawn  back  "by  a  great  fee,  to  plead  for  a  seized 


VOYAGE    TO    ENGLAND.  77 

ship ;"  and  Governor  Keith's  friend, Colonel  French,  com 
ing  on  board  just  before  the  Annis  set  sail,  and  being  ob 
served  to  pay  marked  respect  to  Benjamin,  it  produced 
such  an  improved  estimate  of  the  quality  of  the  young 
man,  that  he  and  his  friend  Ralph  soon  received  an  in 
vitation  from  the  other  passengers,  to  take  the  berths 
and  other  accommodations  in  the  cabin,  which  had  been 
so  opportunely  vacated  by  Mr.  Hamilton  and  his  son. 
This  invitation  was  gladly  accepted. 

It  being  understood  that  Colonel  French  had  brought 
on  board  despatches  from  Governor  Keith,  Benjamin 
took  it  for  granted  that  now,  at  last,  with  them  had 
come  the  long-promised  letters  intended  for  himself; 
and  naturally  wishing  to  have  them  in  his  own  keeping, 
he  applied  for  them  to  the  captain  of  the  ship.  He  was 
answered,  however,  that  his  letters  with  all  others  going 
out,  were  in  the  bag  together,  and  that  they  could  not 
then  be  conveniently  got  hold  of;  but  that,  before  land 
ing  in  England,  he  should  have  ample  opportunity  to 
obtain  possession  of  them.  Contenting  himself  with 
this  assurance,  he  laid  aside  all  further  concern  on  that 
score,  and  opened  his  mind  to  the  reception  of  such  new 
impressions  as  the  voyage  and  its  incidents  should  fur 
nish. 

Only  a  very  brief  notice  of  this  outward  voyage  has 
been  left  by  Franklin.  From  that,  however,  it  appears 
that  the  company  in  the  cabin  fared  uncommonly  well, 
inasmuch  as  the  stores  provided  by  Mr.  Hamilton,  being 
left  in  the  ship,  made  the  supply  unusually  abundant; 
and  the  passengers  found  themselves  sufficiently  agree 
able  to  each  other,  to  render  the  passage  a  pleasant  one 
inboard  ;  but  in  other  respects  it  was  made  uncomforta 
ble  by  the  general  prevalence  of  rough  weather.  Of 
the  incidents  which  occurred  on  board,  by  far  the  most 
interesting  one  to  Benjamin,  was  his  acquisition  of  the 

7* 


78  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

friendship  of  his  Quaker  fellow-passenger,  Mr.  Den- 
ham —  a  friendship,  which  soon  proved  exceedingly  use 
ful  to  him,  and  ultimately  led  to  a  closer  and  more  im 
portant  connection,  and  which  continued  without  inter 
ruption,  or  disturbance,  till  it  was  forever  sundered  by 
death. 

While  going  up  the  British  channel,  Benjamin  had 
the  promised  opportunity  to  overhaul  the  letter-bag. 
Finding  several  letters  bearing  his  own  name  as  the 
person  who  was  to  take  charge  of  them,  with  some  oth 
ers,  which,  judging  by  the  names  of  those  to  whom 
they  were  addressed  and  other  tokens,  seemed  intended 
for  his  use,  he  took  possession  of  them.  But,  alas  for 
the  good-faith  of  pretended  friendship  and  for  the  hopes 
it  had  inspired,  the  sequel  showed  that  all  these  letters 
were  utterly  worthless,  and  that  this  youth  had  been 
cruelly  cheated  by  the  smooth-tongued  deceiver,  who 
was  then  the  governor  of  Pennsylvania. 


ARRIVES    AT    LONDON.  79 


CHAPTER  IX. 

RESULT    OP    THE    VOYAGE PENJAMIN's    FIRST    EXPERIEN 
CES    IN    LONDON. 

THE  passengers  of  the  Annis  reached  London  in  safe 
ty,  on  the  24th  of  December,  1724;  and  Benjamin 
wasted  no  time  before  making  use  of  the  documents, 
from  which  he  had  been  induced  to  expect  so  much 
benefit.  One  of  the  letters  bearing  the  address  of  a 
Mr.  Basket,  designated  as  the  King's  printer,  and  an 
other  being  directed  to  a  stationer,  whose  name  is  riot 
given,  Benjamin,  naturally  inferring,  from  the  occupa 
tions  of  the  men  whose  names  they  bore,  that  these  two 
letters  would  be  found  to  relate,  most  directly  and  ma 
terially,  to  the  main  object  of  his  voyage,  selected  them 
for  immediate  delivery. 

The  stationer  happening  to  be  nearest  by,  to  him  Ben 
jamin  first  proceeded.  Finding  him  in  his  shop,  he 
handed  the  letter  to  him,  saying,  as  he  did  so,  what  he 
of  course  took  for  granted  was  the  fact,  that  it  was  from 
Sir  William  Keith,  governor  of  the  province  of  Penn 
sylvania.  The  stationer  remarked  that  he  did  not  know 
any  such  person,  but  took  the  letter,  and  opening  it  cast 
his  eye  upon  the  signature,  when  he  suddenly  exclaimed 
—  "O,  this  is  from  Riddlesden  !  I  have  lately  found 
him  to  be  a  complete  rascal ;  and  I  will  have  nothing  to 
do  with  him,  nor  receive  any  letters  from  him."  So, 


80  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

handing  back  the  unread  epistle,  "he  turned  on  his 
heel,"  says  Franklin,  "  and  left  me,  to  serve  a  customer." 

In  short,  the  upshot  of  this  affair  was,  that  not  one  of 
the  letters,  on  which  so  many  hopes  had  been  built,  was 
written  by  Keith  ;  and  now  looking  back  upon  his  con 
duct,  in  the  new  light  poured  upon  it,  Benjamin  began, 
for  the  first  time,  to  entertain  doubts  of  the  honesty  and 
good  faith  of  Sir  William  Keith,  the  governor  of  Penn 
sylvania. 

Startled  by  such  a  result,  and  filled  with  apprehen 
sions,  arising  from  the  predicament,  in  which  that  result 
placed  him,  Benjamin  straightway  sought  out  his  late  fel 
low-passenger,  Denham,  and  laid  the  whole  matter,  from 
first  to  last,  fully  before  him.  The  intelligent  and  fair- 
minded  Quaker  merchant  at  once  let  his  young  friend 
into,  what  he  was  not  before  aware  had  been  a  secret  to 
him  —  the  real  character  of  his  professing  patron.  Mr. 
Denham  told  Benjamin  that  there  was  not  the  slightest 
probability  that  Keith  had  either  written,  or  had  seri 
ously  intended  to  write,  a  single  letter  for  his  benefit, 
notwithstanding  all  his  solemn  pledges  and  hospitable 
attentions ;  that  nobody,  having  any  knowledge  of  Sir 
William  and  his  ways,  placed  the  smallest  dependence 
on  his  most  earnest  assurances  ;  and  he  laughed  heartily 
at  the  very  idea  of  a  letter -of -credit  from  a  man,  who 
possessed  not  a  particle  of  that  valuable  commodity  for 
his  own  use,  or  for  the  service  of  others. 

Faithless,  heartless,  and  disgraceful  as  the  conduct 
of  Sir  William  Keith  was  in  this  affair,  yet,  after  all, 
his  character,  in  its  general  elements  at  least,  was  not, 
we  suspect,  a  very  uncommon  one.  He  seems  to  have 
been  one  of  those  sociable,  good-humored,  and  smiling, 
but  selfish  and  thick-skinned  men,  who,  though  posses 
sing  some  agreeable  and  useful  qualities,  and  often  ex 
hibiting  considerable  talents  fur  business,  yet  have  no 


81 

very  clear  perception  of  many  of  the  differences  between 
right  and  wrong,  and  appear  unable  to  recognise  them, 
unless  in  a  coarse  way  and  in  the  broadest  cases  ;  who, 
though  perhaps  seldom  actuated  by  any  cherished  mal 
ice,  yet  have  no  well-settled  moral  principles  for  the 
uniform  regulation  of  their  own  conduct ;  men  of  cold 
affections,  and  little  real  sympathy,  but  of  sanguine 
temperament,  lively  animal  spirits,  much  self-compla 
cency,  addicted  to  company,  voluble  talkers,  fond  of  no 
toriety,  with  but  little  sense  of  honor  and  shame,  ready 
with  expedients,  and  eager  for  place  and  influence. 

Such  men  are  very  apt  to  play  the  patron,  not  so 
much,  however,  for  the  sake  of  their  clients,  as  for  their 
own;  and  some  calculation  of  advantage  to  himself, 
seems  very  likely  to  have  suggested  to  Keith,  the  expe 
diency  of  affecting  to  patronise  Benjamin,  and  to  have 
led  him  to  obtrude  himself  and  his  proffers  of  assistance 
upon  a  youth  of  so  much  promise. 

Franklin  closes  his  account  of  Sir  William  and  their 
connection,  with  a  short  comment  which,  considering 
the  heartlessness  and  wanton  cruelty  of  Keith's  usage 
of  him,  bears  the  most  unequivocal  testimony  to  that 
spirit  of  candor  and  forbearance,  which  marked  and 
adorned  his  own  character,  through  life. 

"What  shall  we  think,"  says  Franklin,  "of  a  gov 
ernor  playing  such  pitiful  tricks  and  imposing  so  grossly 
on  a  poor  ignorant  boy]  It  was  a  Tidbit  he  had  ac 
quired.  He  wished  to  please  everybody ;  and  having 
little  else  to  give,  he  gave  expectations.  He  was,  oth 
erwise,  an  ingenious  and  sensible  man  ;  a  pretty  good 
writer  ;  and  a  good  governor  for  the  people,  though  not 
for  his  constituents,  the  Proprietaries,  whose  instruc 
tions'  he  sometimes  disregarded.  Several  of  our  best 
laws  were  of  his  planning,  and  passed  during  his  ad 
ministration." 


82  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN     FRANKLIN. 

But  the  fraud,  which  had  been  practised  upon  Benja 
min,  was  not  the  only  piece  of  treachery  brought  to 
light  by  this  letter  of  Riddlesden.  This  man  was  an 
attorney  in  Philadelphia,  and  both  Mr.  Denham  and 
Benjamin  were  as  fully  aware  as  the  stationer,  that  Rid 
dlesden  was  a  thorough-going  knave.  His  letter,  writ 
ten  under  the  expectation  that  Andrew  Hamilton,  who 
had  been  suddenly  recalled  from  Newcastle  to  Phila 
delphia,  was  going  to  England  in  the  Annis,  betrayed 
the  fact  that  a  plot  was  going  on,  to  injure  Mr.  Hamil 
ton,  and  that  Keith  and  Riddlesden  were  the  plotters. 

Mr.  Denham,  who  was  a  friend  of  Mr.  Hamilton's, 
very  justly  thought  that  gentleman  should  be  informed 
of  the  mischief  that  was  hatching;  and  when  he  reached 
London,  as  he  did,  not  very  long  after,  in  another  ves 
sel,  Benjamin  called  on  him  and  gave  him  the  letter. 
"  He  thanked  me  cordially,"  says  Franklin  many  years 
later,  "the  information  being  of  importance  to  him; 
and  from  that  time  he  became  my  friend,  greatly  to  my 
advantage  afterward,  on  many  occasions." 

By  the  shameful  and  wanton  perfidy  of  Keith,  thus, 
without  an  acquaintance  in  London,  except  one  or  two 
of  his  own  countrymen,  who  were  shortly  to  return 
home  —  with  very  scanty  means  of  support,  and  these 
soon  to  be  exhausted,  unless  he  should  be  able  to  pro 
cure  employment,  was  Benjamin,  a  youth  oP  eighteen, 
a  stranger  from  another  land,  left  exposed  to  the  perils 
of  a  great  city.  Happy  for  him,  was  it,  then,  that  he 
had  a  trade.  For  a  poor  unfriended  youth,  without 
money,  or  connections,  there  is,  under  Providence,  no 
better  reliance  than  the  possession  of  one  of  those  hon 
est  and  useful  mechanical  arts,  which  belong,  perma 
nently,  to  the  very  structure  of  civilized  society,  and  are 
essential  to  the  ordinary  and  daily  recurring  wants  and 
uses  of  the  community.  With  such  a  resource,  no  hon- 


HOW    SITUATED    IN    LONDON.  83 

est  and  right-minded  person,  young,  or  old,  needs  de 
spond,  while  he  has  health,  and  cherishes  a  spark  of 
genuine  self-respect,  or  has  any  just  sense  of  the  true 
respectability  and  virtue  of  useful  self-sustaining  labor. 

With  these  manly  sentiments  in  his  breast,  and  with 
the  advice  and  sympathy  of  his  friend  Denham  to  en 
courage  him,  Benjamin  at  once  set  about  finding  em 
ployment.  This  he  soon  procured,  at  Palmer's,  "  a  fa 
mous  printing-house  in  Bartholomew  Close,"  where  he 
remained  nearly  a  year.  Stranger  as  he  was  in  Lon 
don,  the  only  person  with  whom  he  could  have  anything 
like  intimate  companionship,  was  Ralph,  and  they  were 
a  great  deal  together.  They  took  lodgings  in  that  part 
of  the  city  called  Little  Britain,  at  three  shillings  and 
sixpence  sterling  a  week  for  each. 

At  this  time,  Ralph  acquainted  Benjamin  with  his  de 
termination  never  to  return  to  Philadelphia.  His  whole 
stock  of  money  having  been  exhausted  in  paying  the  ex 
penses  of  his  voyage,  he  was  now  destitute  ;  and  though 
he  had  some  family  relatives  in  London,  yet  they  were 
too  poor  to  render  him  any  assistance.  He  had,  there 
fore,  no  resource  but  dependence  upon  Benjamin,  who 
possessed  a  small  fund  of  fifteen  pistoles,  about  fifty 
dollars,  and  who  furnished  his  friend  with  what  money 
was  necessary  for  his  subsistence,  while  he  was  looking 
about  for  employment. 

This  connection  proved,  as  in  the  case  of  Collins, 
another  considerable  burden,  for  the  time  being,  to  Ben 
jamin;  and,  ultimately,  he  had  to  sustain  a  total  loss  of 
the  money  thus  generously  furnished;  for  Ralph,  after 
trying  in  vain  to  procure  an  engagement,  as  a  play-ac 
tor,  at  one  of  the  theatres,  then  proposed  to  a  publisher, 
to  write  for  him  a  weekly  paper  on  the  plan  of  the 
Spectator.  His  terms,  however,  not  proving  accepta 
ble,  he  next  sought  employment,  as  a  scrivener,  among 


84  LIFE    OF    ItKNJAMIN     FRANKLIN. 

the  stationers  and  lawyers  of  the  Middle  Temple,  and 
its  purlieus  ;  but  still  without  success,  as  he  could  find 
no  vacancy. 

To  Benjamin,  with  his  trade,  in  which,  for  so  expert 
and  efficient  a  workman  as  he  was,  employment  might 
be  considered  certain,  the  danger  of  not  being  able 
to  provide  a  decent  and  comfortable  subsistence,  was 
scarcely  worth  a  moment's  anxiety.  In  such  a  city  as 
London,  however,  there  were  other  perils,  of  a  graver 
nature,  needing  more  energy  of  character  and  more 
strength  of  virtuous  resolution,  in  a  youth  of  eighteen, 
of  social  disposition  and  ardent  temperament,  to  pass 
safely  through  ;  and  in  reference  to  these  perils,  his 
companion  Ralph  was  no  help  to  him. 

During  the  customary  working  hours,  Benjamin  was 
sufficiently  diligent  and  attentive  to  his  duties  as  a  jour 
neyman.  His  evenings,  however,  were  generally,  at 
this  period,  devoted  to  mere  diversion ;  especially  to 
visiting  the  play-houses  and  other  places  of  public 
amusement.  On  these  occasions  Ralph  was  usually  his 
associate;  and  as  he  had  himself  to  defray  the  expenses 
of  both,  his  pistoles  rapidly  melted  away,  together  with 
a  considerable  portion  of  his  wages  besides.  Ralph 
seemed  to  have  forgotten  the  wife  and  child  he  had  left 
behind  him  at  Philadelphia  ;  and  Benjamin,  as  he  sub 
sequently  confesses,  gave  little  attention  to  the  duties 
imposed  on  him,  by  his  engagements  with  Miss  Read,  to 
whom  he  wrote  "  but  one  letter,  and  that  was  to  let  her 
know  he  was  not  likely  soon  to  return." 

This  was  an  unwarrantable  neglect  of  duty ;  and 
long  after,  in  writing  his  own  account  of  his  conduct,  in 
this  respect,  he  had  the  honesty  to  admit  it ;  pronoun 
cing  it  "  one  of  the  great  errata  of  his  life,  which  he 
should  wish  to  correct,  if  he  were  to  live  his  life  over 
again."  In  point  of  fact,  his  inability  to  go  back  to 


PERILS    IN    LONDON.  85 

Philadelphia,  was  owing  to  the  expenses  incurred  by 
himself  and  his  companion,  which  prevented  his  accu 
mulating  a  sum  sufficient  to  meet  the  charges  of  a  re 
turn  voyage.  But  the  want  of  money  was  not  now  the 
chief  impediment  in  the  path  of  his  duty.  Notwith 
standing  that  want,  he  could  easily  have  performed  at 
least  a  part  of  his  obligations,  by  keeping  up  a  corre 
spondence  with  one  to  whom  he  had  plighted  his  love 
and  truth ;  and  the  mere  fact  that  he  disregarded  an  ob 
ligation  so  plain  and  so  easy  to  fulfil,  speaks,  with  more 
emphasis,  than  even  his  own  honest  confession,  of  the 
perils  to  which  the  perfidy  of  Keith  had  exposed  him, 
and  of  the  downward  tendencies  of  that  pagan  manner 
of  living,  the  temptations  of  which  he  was  now  begin 
ning  to  feel  with  bounding  pulses  and  sparkling  eyes. 
There  is,  in  truth,  nothing  in  human  life  that  produces 
such  intense  selfishness,  or  so  soon  hardens  the  heart 
and  benumbs  the  conscience,  as  those  forms  of  self-in 
dulgence,  which  are  found  exclusively  in  the  gratifica 
tion  of  the  senses  and  in  mere  amusement. 

In  the  same  house  in  Little  Britain,  in  which  Ben 
jamin  and  Ralph  lodged,  a  young  woman,  who  was  en 
gaged  in  business  as  a  milliner,  also  had  lodgings, 
though  she  kept  her  shop  in  another  building  in  the 
neighborhood.  She  is  designated  in  Franklin's  narra 
tive,  simply  as  Mrs.  T. ;  and  she  seems  to  have  been  a 
young  widow  with  one  child.  She  is  described  as  be 
ing  a  sensible  and  sprightly  person,  of  attractive  man 
ners,  and  of  uncommonly  agreeable  conversation.  Ralph 
not  unfrequently  passed  his  evenings  in  reading  plays 
to  her ;  and  their  intercourse  shortly  became  too  inti 
mate  to  continue  innocent.  It  was  not  long,  therefore, 
before  she  changed  her  lodgings,  and  he  soon  joining 
her,  they  dwelt  together  for  several  weeks.  But  he  not 
having  yet  been  able  to  procure  any  regular  employ- 

8 


86  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

ment,  and  the  avails  of  her  business  being  too  scanty 
to  support  both  themselves  and  her  child,  he  left  Lon 
don,  after  a  while,  to  seek  employment,  in  the  country, 
as  teacher  of  a  village-school,  for  which  he  felt  himself 
amply  qualified,  by  his  skill  in  penmanship,  arithmetic, 
and  keeping  accounts. 

With  the  false  pride,  however,  which  formed  a  con 
trolling  element  of  his  character,  though  not  ashamed  of 
his  licentious  conduct,  he  deemed  the  useful  and  there 
fore  honorable  occupation  of  teaching  a  school,  beneath 
his  deserts  and  dignity.  To  prevent  his  being  ever 
traced  back  to  that  occupation,  when,  at  any  subsequent 
period,  he  should  have  attained  a  position  more  worthy, 
in  his  own  estimation,  of  his  capacity  and  merit,  he 
dropped  his  true  family  name,  and  did  Franklin  "  the 
honor,"  as  the  latter  words  it,  "to  assume  Ms."  This 
circumstance  was  disclosed  to  Benjamin  by  receiving, 
not  long  after,  a  letter  from  Ralph,  dated  at  an  obscure 
village  in  Berkshire,  informing  him  that  he  was  engaged 
in  teaching  some  ten  or  twelve  boys  to  read,  write,  and 
cipher,  for  sixpence  a  week  each  ;  recommending  also 
his  friend,  the  milliner,  to  Benjamin's  kind  offices,  and 
requesting  him  to  address  his  letters  to  "  Mr.  Franklin, 
schoolmaster  "  at  the  village  alluded  to. 

The  instruction  of  his  little  pupils  was,  of  course,  a 
light  task  for  Ralph's  active  mind,  and  in  the  leisure 
and  seclusion  of  his  present  situation,  turning  to  what 
we  have  already  seen  was  his  favorite  pursuit,  he  under 
took  the  composition  of  an  epic  poem.  The  subject  and 
title  of  the  poem  are  not  stated  ;  but  in  his  frequent 
letters  to  Benjamin  he  enclosed  copious  specimens  of 
it,  requesting  the  favor  of  his  remarks  and  strictures 
thereon,  in  the  spirit  of  free  and  independent  criticism. 
Benjamin  complied,  with  freedom  and  candor,  but  at 
the  same  time,  and  with  right  judgment,  too,  "endeav- 


MISCONDUCT RELIEVED  FROM  RALPH.       87 

ored  to  discourage  his  proceeding."  With  this  view, 
he  took  the  trouble  to  transcribe  the  greater  portion  of 
a  then  newly-published  satire  from  the  pen  of  the  cele 
brated  Dr.  Young,  author  of  the  "  Night  Thoughts" — 
the  work  by  which  its  author  is  most  generally  known 
in  this  country,  being  held  in  high  estimation  by  the 
more  sedate  and  meditative  lovers  of  poetry  among  us  ; 
and  which,  though  containing  some  offences  against 
taste,  particularly  in  its  occasional  extravagance  of  ex 
pression,  does,  nevertheless,  abound  with  lofty  and  ele 
vating  views,  and  with  just  as  well  as  striking  and  bril 
liant  thoughts  and  images,  presented,  for  the  most  part, 
in  a  style  of  remarkable  vigor  and  varied  beauty.  The 
satire,  so  much  of  which  was  thus  disinterestedly  trans- 
scribed  for  Ralph's  benefit,  "  set  in  a  strong  light,"  says 
Franklin,  "  the  folly  of  pursuing  the  muses ;  but  all 
was  in  vain,  and  sheets  of  the  poem  continued  to  come, 
by  every  post." 

About  this  time,  moreover,  the  female  already  men 
tioned,  who  had  forfeited  the  favor  of  her  friends  and 
lost  her  business,  by  means  of  her  connection  with 
Ralph,  often,  in  her  distress,  sent  for  Benjamin,  who 
generously  supplied  what  money  he  could  spare,  for  her 
relief.  This  was  a  dangerous  intercourse  for  the  young 
man.  His  account  of  it  clearly  shows  that  her  applica 
tions  for  assistance,  proceeded  from  actual  and  extreme 
penury  on  her  part,  and  honorably  acquits  her  of  any 
artful  design  of  entrapping  him.  But  this  freedom  from 
all  craft  and  subtlety  toward  him,  only  increased  his 
danger ;  and  in  his  sympathy  for  a  person  of  her  attrac 
tive  qualities  and  infirm  virtue,  it  was  but  too  natural 
that  he  should  soon  feel  other  and  less  pure  impulses 
mingling  with  his  benevolence.  The  result  is  best  re 
lated  in  his  own  words  : — 

"  I  grew  fond."  says  he,   "of  her  company;  and  be- 


88  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

ing  at  that  time  under  no  religious  restraint,  and  taking 
advantage  of  my  importance  to  her,  I  attempted  to  take 
some  liberties  with  her  (another  erratum],  which  she 
repulsed  with  a  proper  degree  of  resentment.  She 
wrote  to  Ralph  and  acquainted  him  with  my  conduct. 
This  occasioned  a  breach  between  us  ;  and  when  he  re 
turned  to  London,  he  let  me  know  he  considered  all  the 
obligations  he  had  been  under  to  me,  as  annulled ;  from 
which  I  concluded  I  was  never  to  expect  his  repaying 
the  money  I  had  lent  him,  or  had  advanced  for  him. 
This,  however,  was  of  little  consequence,  as  he  was 
totally  unable ;  and  by  the  loss  of  his  friendship,  I 
found  myself  relieved  from  a  heavy  burden." 

This  result  was  unquestionably  fortunate  for  Benja 
min,  for  the  sake  of  his  morals,  not  less  than  his  pocket ; 
and  though  his  conduct,  in  one  particular,  was  culpa 
ble,  yet  his  ingenuous  confession  of  his  fault,  his  honest 
self-condemnation,  and  his  just  reference  to  fixed  reli 
gious  principle,  as  the  truest  and  surest  restraint  upon 
the  passions,  make  some  amends  for  his  transgression  ; 
while  his  generous  readiness  to  relieve  distress,  is  wor 
thy  of  imitation,  as  well  as  praise. 

The  conduct  of  Ralph,  however,  presents  no  compen 
sating  traits,  and  was  in  good  keeping  with  the  spuri 
ous  pride  he  had  manifested,  in  reference  to  the  em 
ployment  of  a  schoolmaster.  In  changing  his  name,  he 
had  committed  a  fraud,  not  only  upon  the  community  in 
which  he  was  residing,  but  also,  according  to  his  own 
estimate  of  his  occupation  there,  upon  the  friend  whose 
name  he  pilfered  ;  and  in  pretending  to  consider  his 
actual  debt,  to  say  nothing  of  gratitude,  to  Benjamin,  as 
cancelled,  when  he  broke  friendship  with  him,  he  was 
only  adding  more  than  common  meanness,  to  more  than 
common  dishonesty.  True  self-respect  or  dignity  of 
sentiment,  if  he  had  possessed  a  particle  of  either, 


NEW    ACQUAINTANCES.  b9 

would  have  rendered  him  more  than  ordinarily  anxious 
to  relieve  himself  from  the  sense  of  obligation,  under 
such  circumstances,  not  by  repudiating  a  debt  incurred 
as  that  was,  but  by  making  his  most  strenuous  exertions 
to  pay  it,  at  the  earliest  possible  day,  to  the  very  last 
farthing.  But  this  unprincipled  man  will  trouble  us,  as 
he  troubled  his  abused  friend,  no  further. 

While  Benjamin  was  working  in  Palmer's  printing- 
office,  he  was  employed  in  setting  the  types  for  a  new 
edition  of  Wollaston's  "Religion  of  Nature  ;"  and  as 
he  deemed  some  of  the  reasonings  in  that  work  un 
sound,  he  controverted  them,  in  a  metaphysical  tract, 
which  he  then  wrote,  entitled  "A  Dissertation  of  Lib 
erty  and  Necessity — Pleasure  and  Pain,"  a  few  copies 
of  which  he  printed.  That  performance  is  not  now  ex 
tant  ;  but  from  the  terms  in  which  Franklin  himself 
mentions  it,  the  inference  is,  that  it  must  have  given  a 
very  free  expression  of  the  religious  unbelief,  which  at 
that  period  possessed  his  mind.  Speaking  of  it,  at  a 
long  subsequent  period,  when  he  cherished  very  differ 
ent  sentiments,  he  says  :  "  It  occasioned  my  being  more 
considered  by  Mr.  Palmer,  as  a  young  man  of  some  in 
genuity,  though  he  seriously  expostulated  with  me,  upon 
the  principles  of  my  pamphlet,  which  to  him  appeared 
abominable.  My  printing  this  pamphlet  was  another 
erratum" 

This  dissertation,  however  objectionable  on  account 
of  its  opinions  —  and  his  own  censure  of  it  is  likely  to 
have  been  just  —  contributed,  nevertheless,  to  extend  his 
circle  of  acquaintance  ;  and  the  enlarged  opportunity 
thus  obtained  for  observing  life  and  character,  served  to 
give  a  wider  variety  to  his  subjects  of  thought  and  fresh 
impulse  to  his  mental  activity.  The  extension  of  his 
social  intercourse,  on  this  occasion,  took  place  through 
the  agency  of  a  man  named  Lyons,  a  surgeon  by  pro- 

8* 


90  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

fession,  who  had  published  a  treatise  on  "  The 
bility  of  Human  Judgment"  Lyons  having  accident 
ally  met  with  young  Franklin's  pamphlet,  read  it,  and 
finding  in  it,  doubtless,  some  opinions  harmonizing  with 
his  own,  and  probably  also  some  indications  of  an  ori 
ginal  way  of  thinking,  he  sought  out  the  author,  became 
exceedingly  fond  of  his  conversation,  courted  his  soci 
ety,  and  introduced  him  to  a  club  which  he  was  him 
self  in  the  habit  of  frequenting. 

The  most  noted  person  with  whom  Benjamin  became 
acquainted  at  that  club,  was  Mandeville,  author  of  "  The 
Fable  of  the  Bees"  —  a  work  which  enjoyed  for  a  time 
considerable  celebrity,  but  has  latterly  been  little  read. 
It  inculcates  the  pernicious  doctrine  that  private  vices 
are  public  benefits,  inasmuch  as  they  give  a  wider  range 
to  the  wants  of  men,  and  by  thus  multiplying  the  em 
ployments  of  the  community,  augment  the  demand  and 
the  compensation  for  labor  —  a  doctrine,  which  the  great 
Apostle  to  the  Gentiles  could  not  have  sanctioned,  as  it  is 
only  another  way  of  saying,  "  Let  us  do  evil,  that  good 
may  come." 

Mandeville  himself  is  described  as  being  a  man  of 
very  entertaining  conversation,  of  a  facetious  turn,  and 
"the  soul"  of  the  club  that  gathered  around  him.  For 
that  very  reason,  however,  he  was  only  the  more  dan 
gerous  a  companion  for  those  whose  principles  were  not 
firmly  settled.  Lyons  also  introduced  Benjamin  to  one 
Dr.  Pemberton,  who  promised  him  an  opportunity  to 
see  the  celebrated  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  then  approaching 
the  close  of  his  long  and  illustrious  career.  But  that 
opportunity,  though  eagerly  coveted,  never  came.  The 
great  philosopher  was  then,  1725,  in  his  84th  year,  and 
died  on  the  20th  of  March,  1726,  almost  as  much  dis 
tinguished  beyond  the  common  lot,  in  years  as  in  fame. 

Another  incident  not  unworthy  of  notice,  in  the  ex- 


SIR    HANS    SLOANE ASBESTOS    PURSE.  91 

perience  of  a  journeyman  printer,  a  youth  of  nineteen, 
and  a  stranger  from  a  land  beyond  the  ocean,  was  his 
becoming  acquainted  with  Sir  Hans  Sloane,  with  the 
occasion  of  it.  Among  some  rarities  which  Benjamin 
had  taken  with  him  from  Philadelphia,  was  a  purse 
made  of  asbestos,  or,  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  amian 
thus  ;  a  kind  of  stone,  which  is  not  only  inconsumable 
by  fire,  but  so  fibrous  as  to  be  separable  into  threads 
flexible  enough  to  be  compactly  and  smoothly  woven ; 
and  the  webs  made  of  it,  when  soiled  by  use,  are  cleaned 
by  putting  them  into  the  fire,  instead  of  a  wash-tub. 

Benjamin,  whose  pistoles,  with  his  friend  Ralph's  as 
sistance,  had  run  very  low,  having  learned  something 
of  the  character  and  tastes  of  Sir  Hans,  who  was  very 
much  of  a  virtuoso,  a  lover  and  collector  of  rare  and  curi 
ous  things,  addressed  him  a  note,  dated  June  2d,  1725,  in 
which  he  says  :  "  Having  lately  been  in  the  northern 
parts  of  America,  I  have  brought  thence  a  purse  made  of 
the  asbestos,  a  piece  of  the  stone,  and  a  piece  of  wood 
the  pithy  part  of  which  is  of  the  same  nature,  and  is 
called  by  the  inhabitants  there,  salamander-cotton.  As 
you  are  noted  to  be  a  lover  of  curiosities,  I  have  in 
formed  you  of  these  ;  and  if  you  have  any  inclination 
to  purchase  or  see  them,  let  me  know  your  pleasure  by 
a  line  for  me  at  the  Golden  Fan,  Little  Britain,  and  I 
will  wait  upon  you  with  them."  On  receiving  the  note, 
Sir  Hans,  instead  of  writing,  called  in  person  upon  the 
young  tradesman,  whom  he  politely  invited  to  his  house 
in  Bloomsbury  square,  showed  him  his  extensive  col 
lections  of  things  rare  and  curious,  and  finally  pur 
chased  the  inconsumable  purse,  paying  for  it  handsome 
ly,  says  Franklin,  though  he  does  not  name  the  sum. 


92  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 


CHAPTER   X. 

BETTER    HABITS    IMPROVE    HIS    OWN    CONDITION    ANu 
BENEFIT    OTHERS. 

As  soon  as  Benjamin  had  got  rid  of  Ralph,  he  began  to 
think  of  laying  up  some  of  his  earnings  ;  and  with  a  view 
to  more  productive  employment  also,  he  went  from 
Palmer's  to  Watts's  printing-house,  a  larger  one  near 
Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  where  he  continued  as  long  as  he 
remained  in  London.  Upon  entering  this  office  he  first 
worked  at  the  press,  for  the  sake  of  the  bodily  exercise 
it  gives,  which  he  felt  the  want  of,  and  to  which  he  had 
been  accustomed  in  America,  where  press-work  and 
case-work  were  in  those  days  almost  universally,  and 
are  even  now  to  a  considerable  extent,  performed  by 
the  same  hands. 

Here  he  became  an  efficient  and  valuable  promoter  of 
temperance.  He  was  a  teetotaller  himself,  drinking  only 
water;  while  the  fifty  other  hands  in  the  office  were 
excessive  drinkers  of  beer.  For  the  sake  of  expediting 
his  labor,  or  for  convenience,  he  would  now-and-then 
carry,  up  or  down  stairs,  a  large  form  of  types  in  each 
hand,  while  others  carried  but  one  such  form,  with  both 
hands.  It  was  indeed  unquestionable  evidence  of  the 
power  of  his  arms  ;  and  his  fellow- workmen  wondered 
to  see  the  strength  of  the  "  Water-American,"  as  they 
called  him,  so  much  exceed  their  own,  which  had,  as 


PRINTING-OFFICE    USAGES.  93 

they  fancied,  been  nourished  and  increased  by  strong 
beer.  So  frequent  were  the  calls  for  beer  at  that  one 
establishment,  that  a  boy,  called  the  Ale-House  Boy,  was 
kept  for  no  other  purpose  but  to  go  and  come  with 
drink. 

The  heavy  drain  upon  the  wages  of  the  beer-drinkers, 
made  by  this  practice,  may  be  seen  from  the  fact  that 
Benjamin's  companion  in  working  the  press,  drank  six 
pints  a  day  regularly ;  that  is  to  say,  a  pint  before  break 
fast,  a  pint  at  breakfast,  a  pint  between  that  meal  and 
dinner,  a  pint  at  dinner,  a  pint  about  6  o'clock,  P.  M., 
and  a  pint  at  the  close  of  the  day's  work.  And  all  this 
he  did,  in  the  opinion  that  it  was  necessary  to  give  him 
strength ;  an  opinion  still  very  common,  in  which,  how 
ever,  is  involved  the  serious  error  of  mistaking  the  tran 
sient  effect  of  mere  stimulation,  for  the  permanent  in 
crease  of  muscular  power. 

"  I  thought  the  custom  detestable,"  says  Franklin, 
"  and  I  endeavored  to  convince  him  that  the  bodily 
strength  afforded  by  beer,  could  only  be  in  proportion 
to  the  grain,  or  flour,  of  the  barley,  dissolved  in  the 
water  of  which  it  was  made ;  that  there  was  more  flour 
in  a  penny-worth  of  bread;  and  therefore,  if  he  would 
eat  that,  with  a  pint  of  water,  it  would  give  him  more 
strength  than  a  quart  of  beer.  He  drank  on,  however, 
and  had  four  or  five  shillings  to  pay  out  of  his  wages, 
every  Saturday  night,  for  that  vile  liquor ;  an  expense 
I  was  free  from."  No  wonder  that  these  mistaken  hard 
working  men  always,  as  he  says,  "kept  themselves 
under." 

Much  to  his  own  credit,  as  well  as  to  the  benefit  of 
the  whole  set  of  hands  at  Watts's  large  printing-house, 
Benjamin  exerted  himself  to  reform  some  of  their  hab 
its.  His  efforts  were  obstructed  for  a  while,  by  his  re 
sisting  the  payment  of  a  certain  fee,  alleged  to  be  cus- 


94  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN     FRANKLIN. 

tomary,  but  which  he  thought  unfairly  demanded.  When 
he  first  went  to  this  establishment,  he  began  working, 
as  we  have  seen,  at  press-work,  and  then  paid,  his  bien- 
venu,  as  it  was  called ;  that  is,  his  welcome  fee.  After  a 
few  weeks,  however,  Mr.  Watts,  needing  more  help  at 
case-work,  requested  Benjamin  to  transfer  himself  to 
the  composing-room.  On  doing  so,  the  compositors  de 
manded  of  him  another  bien-venu.  This  he  refused,  and 
Mr.  Watts  also  forbade  his  paying  it. 

For  this  refusal,  however,  the  compositors,  of  course, 
excommunicated  him  from  all  the  privileges  of  their  fel 
lowship  ;  and  while  he  thus  lay  under  interdict,  he  was 
subjected  to  all  manner  of  annoyance  by  vexatious 
tricks  and  practical  jokes.  His  sorts  of  type  were 
mixed  in  his  cases  ;  his  matter  was  broken  and  trans 
posed,  as  it  stood  on  the  galleys ;  or  was  thrown  into 
pit  whenever  he  was  for  a  moment  absent.  No  remedy 
could  be  had,  because  all  these  naughty  things  were 
done  by  "the  ghost  of  the  cliapel"  (as  the  rooms  of  a 
printing-office  are  termed  by  the  craft),  which  always 
haunt  every  one,  whose  entrance  is  not  according  to  the 
chapel  canons,  and  nobody  can  be  held  responsible  for 
what  is  done  by  a  ghost. 

In  short,  there  was  no  protection  for  the  refractory 
compositor,  as  long  as  he  continued  recusant ;  and  after 
persisting  for  two  or  three  weeks  in  recusancy,  he  saw 
that  the  best  thing  he  could  do,  was  to  pay  the  welcome 
money ;  having,  in  the  exercise  of  his  good  sense,  come 
to  the  conclusion,  that  it  is  always  foolish  to  be  volun 
tarily  on  "ill  terms  with  those  you  are  to  live  with  con 
tinually." 

Being  once  placed  on  good  terms  and  a  fair  footing 
with  the  whole  body  of  his  fellow- workmen,  his  shrewd 
ness,  good  temper,  ingenuity,  and  obliging  disposition, 
soon  gave  him,  as  usual,  a  leading  influence  with  them, 


PRINTING-OFFICE    REFORMS.  95 

and  enabled  him  to  carry,  against  all  opposition,  several 
very  sensible  reforms  in  the  laws  of  the  cliapel.  His 
practice,  with  the  results,  which,  daily  and  hourly,  it 
placed  directly  before  their  eyes,  and  with  especial  em 
phasis  on  every  weekly  pay-day,  induced  numbers  of  his 
fellow-workmen  to  change  their  habits  and  follow  his  ex 
ample.  Leaving  their  "  muddling  breakfast  of  beer, 
bread,  and  cheese,"  they  procured,  with  him,  at  a  house 
near  by,  "a  large  porringer  of  hot  water-gruel,"  not 
the  meager  drink  prepared  for  invalids,  but  well  thick 
ened  with  crumbled  bread,  and  savored  and  enriched 
with  a  sprinkle  of  pepper  and  "  a  bit  of  butter,"  all  for  a 
penny  and  a  half,  which  was  the  price  their  pint  of  beer 
alone  cost  them.  This  was  unquestionably  "  a  more 
comfortable  as  well  as  a  cheaper  breakfast,"  than  they 
had  been  accustomed  to  take,  and  it  "  kept  their  heads 
clearer." 

The  other  workmen,  who  "  continued  sotting  it  with 
their  beer  all  day,"  he  found  to  be,  pretty  generally, 
either  in  doubtful  credit,  or  with  none  at  all,  at  the  ale 
house  ;  and  they  became  for  the  most  part  dependent  on 
the  water-drinker  for  money,  or  for  his  responsibility, 
to  enable  them  to  procure  beer ;  their  own  cash  being 
exhausted,  or,  as  they  termed  it,  "  their  light  being  out." 
By  keeping  a  vigilant  eye  on  the  pay-table,  when  pay- 
time  came  round,  every  Saturday,  he  secured  himself,  in 
the  main,  against  loss  on  the  sums  of  beer-money,  for 
which  he  had  agreed  to  become  responsible,  and  which, 
at  times,  as  he  states,  amounted  to  near  thirty  shillings 
in  a  single  week.  His  willingness  to  confer  favors  of 
this  sort,  his  uniform  cheerfulness  of  spirit,  his  good 
temper,  playful  humor,  and  ready  wit,  with  a  turn  for  oc 
casional  jocular  satire,  or  being  what  was  called  among 
them  a  good  riggist,  gave  him  a  high  rank  among  his 
associates  of  the  printing-office  ;  while,  at  the  same  time, 


96  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN     FRANKLIN. 

his  steady  attendance  at  the  office,  without  regard  to  St. 
Monday,  or  other  holyday  excuses  for  absence  and  idle 
ness,  secured  the  countenance  and  favor  of  his  employ 
er;  and  being  a  remarkably  rapid  compositor,  such 
work  as  required  despatch  as  well  as  accuracy,  and 
therefore  brought  the  highest  pay,  was  put  into  his 
hands.  "  So  I  went  on,"  says  he,  "very  agreeably." 

How  soon  the  conduct  and  character  of  this  young 
man,  his  ways  of  life,  his  usefulness  to  others  not  less 
than  to  himself,  and  his  value  as  a  man,  began  to  improve 
—  to  rise  on  the  scale  of  moral  and  social  worth  —  when 
he  had  become  relieved  from  the  burden  of  Ralph,  and 
had  escaped  from  the  misguiding  and  depraving  influ 
ences  of  his  companionship  !  Such  benefits  were  no 
doubt  cheaply  purchased  by  the  loss  of  the  mere  money 
paid  on  his  account.  In  this  connection  it  may  also  be 
mentioned  that  next  door  to  his  lodgings  dwelt  a  man 
named  Wilcox,  a  bookseller,  who  had  a  very  large  col 
lection  of  second-hand  books.  He  seems  to  have  been 
a  well-disposed  and  obliging  man,  and  with  him,  for  a 
trifling  compensation,  Benjamin  made  an  arrangement, 
by  which  he  was  allowed  to  take,  read,  and  return,  any 
books  in  the  collection ;  and  of  this  privilege,  to  him  a 
precious  one,  he  availed  himself  as  fully  as  his  regular 
employment  would  permit. 

About  this  time,  however,  Benjamin  left  his  quarters 
in  Little  Britain,  for  others  in  Duke  street,  much  nearer 
to  his  present  place  of  daily  labor.  His  new  room  was 
a  back  chamber,  in  the  fourth  story  of  a  warehouse  be 
longing  to  his  new  hostess,  in  which  were  deposited  va 
rious  wares  of  Italian  manufacture,  in  which  she  was  a 
dealer. 

This  lady  was  a  widow,  and  had  a  daughter  living 
with  her.  She  also  kept  a  maid-servant  to  do  her  house 
work,  and  a  hired  man  to  wait  upon  customers,  in  the 


HIS    NENV    HOSTESS.  97 

ware-room,  during  the  business  hours  of  the  day,  but 
at  night  he  slept  elsewhere.  Upon  obtaining  from  the 
people  with  whom  Benjamin  had  been  boarding  in  Lit 
tle  Britain,  an  account  of  his  character  and  habits,  she 
consented  to  receive  him  at  the  same  price  he  had  been 
paying,  at  the  house  he  was  about  leaving,  and  that  was 
three  shillings  and  sixpence  a  week ;  saying  that  she 
accepted  such  small  pay,  for  the  sake  of  the  increased 
security,  which  she  felt  would  follow  from  having  such 
a  lodger  in  the  house. 

This  worthy  and  kind-hearted  widow,  now  far  ad 
vanced  in  years,  was  the  daughter  of  a  Protestant  cler 
gyman  of  the  Church  of  England  as  by  law  established, 
and  her  father  had  reared  and  educated  her  in  his  own 
faith.  But  having  married  a  gentleman  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  persuasion,  he  had  converted  her  to  his  own 
creed  and  church,  in  which  she  still  remained  steadfast ; 
and  she  appeared,  according  to  Franklin's  estimate  of 
her,  to  cherish  her  husband's  memory  with  a  deep  and 
sincere  feeling  of  affectionate  respect. 

She  had,  moreover,  as  it  is  stated,  been  long  and  in 
timately  conversant  with  many  families  of  high  rank, 
some  of  which  were  distinguished  for  character  and 
public  services,  as  well  as  birth ;  and  concerning  them 
she  possessed,  it  is  related,  a  rich  and  varied  store  of 
anecdotes,  reaching  back  as  far,  in  many  instances,  as 
the  days  of  Charles  II. ;  thus  covering,  with  interesting 
recollections,  a  period  of  more  than  forty  years.  This 
excellent  and  respectable  woman  had  suffered  long  and 
much  from  gout  in  her  knees,  which  had  now  become 
so  weak  that  she  was  rarely  able  to  leave  her  room,  or, 
at  times,  even  her  chair.  Company,  therefore,  espe 
cially  cheerful  and  quiet  company,  was  very  acceptable 
to  her  ;  and  "hers  was  so  highly  amusing  to  me,"  says 
Franklin,  "  that  I  was  sure  to  spend  an  evening  with 
9 


98  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

her,  whenever  she  desired  it."  Their  supper,  on  these 
pleasant  occasions,  consisted  of  "half  an  anchovy  for 
each,  on  a  very  little  slice  of  bread  and  butter,  and  half 
a  pint  of  ale  for  both  ;  but  the  entertainment  was  in 
her  conversation." 

Benjamin  was  now  so  regular  in  his  hours,  gave  so 
little  trouble,  and  was  in  all  respects  so  quiet  and  pleas 
ant  a  boarder,  that  his  hostess  became  solicitous  to  re 
tain  him ;  and  when  he  mentioned  that  he  had  heard  of 
lodgings  still  nearer  to  his  place  of  labor,  to  be  had  for 
only  two  shillings  a  week,  and  that  such  a  saving,  in  his 
circumstances,  was  important  to  him,  she  at  once  told 
him  not  to  think  of  going,  for  she  would  thenceforward 
keep  him  for  eighteen  pence  per  week  :  and  he  contin 
ued  with  her,  at  that  price,  for  the  rest  of  his  stay  in 
London. 

The  same  house  held  another  lodger,  a  female,  Whose 
history  and  way  of  life  were  not  a  little  singular.  She 
was  a  maiden  lady  of  three-score  and  ten  years,  and 
she  occupied  a  room  in  the  garret,  living  in  almost  utter 
seclusion  from  society.  She  was  a  Roman  Catholic,  and 
when  very  young  had  been  placed  in  a  convent  on  the 
continent,  with  the  design  of  making  her  a  nun.  The 
situation  of  the  establishment,  as  it  appears,  however, 
proving  unfavorable  to  her  health,  she  left  it  and  came 
back  to  England.  But  in  England  there  were  no  nun 
neries,  nor  convents  of  any  kind ;  and  she  was  unable, 
therefore,  to  pursue  the  way  of  life  to  which  she  had 
vowed  herself,  according  to  the  literal  strictness  of  her 
vow  and  the  rigor  of  conventual  rule ;  and  so  she  was 
doing  the  best  she  could,  by  living  the  life  of  a  nun, 
with  as  much  exactness  as  circumstances  would  allow, 
in  the  garret  of  the  warehouse,  in  which  Benjamin  now 
had  his  lodgings. 

There  had  this  aged  and  simple-minded  woman  dwelt, 


A    NUN,    BUT    NO     NUNNERY.  99 

and  thus  had  she  lived,  for  a  long  series  of  years,  free 
of  rent-charge,  through  the  kindness  of  many  succes 
sive  occupants  of  the  building,  all  of  whom  had  been 
professors  of  the  same  faith  with  herself,  and  who  had 
all  deemed  it  a  blessing  to  have  this  pious  and  holy  her- 
mitess  under  their  roof.  At  an  early  day,  long  prior  to 
the  time  now  spoken  of,  she  had  conveyed  the  whole  of 
her  estate,  which  seems  to  have  been  considerable,  to 
trustees,  in  trust  for  charitable  uses,  reserving  only 
twelve  pounds  a  year,  from  its  proceeds,  for  her  own 
support ;  and  even  of  this  small  sum,  she  annually  dis 
pensed  a  part  in  alms,  living  herself  on  water-gruel 
alone,  and  that  too  of  the  most  meager  kind,  using  no 
fire  except  to  make  her  gruel. 

A  priest  visited  her  daily,  to  receive  her  confession ; 
and  being  asked  one  day  by  the  landlady,  how  she,  in 
her  long-practised  abstinence,  could  need  such  frequent 
confession,  the  ancient  nun  replied — "Oh!  it  is  impos 
sible  to  avoid  vain  thoughts." 

When  it  is  considered  that  the  "  thoughts,"  which  a 
woman  of  so  harmless  and  abstemious  a  life,  and  of 
such  venerable  age,  had  been  so  long  accustomed  to 
deem  "vain,"  and  yet  found  it  "impossible  to  avoid," 
were  doubtless  the  suggestions  of  her  natural  and  long- 
repressed  affections,  avenging  themselves  upon  her,  for 
her  mistaken  faith  and  practice,  then  the  foregoing  re 
ply,  brief  and  simple  as  it  is,  comes  to  the  mind  with  a 
melancholy  significance.  Her  "  way  of  life  had  fallen 
into  the  sear  and  yellow  leaf,"  but  yet,  at  seventy  years 
as  at  twenty,  she  was  still  sitting  alone  in  a  secluded 
chamber — 

"While  that  which  should  accompany  old  age, 
As  honor,  love,  obedience,  troops  of  friends,"  — 

the  blessing  and  glory  of  the  hoary  head,  and  what  the 
aged  heart  craves  and  yearns  for,  she  "  could  not  look 


100  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

to  have."  There  can  not  easily  be  found  a  sadder  spec 
tacle. 

Benjamin  once  obtained  permission  to  visit  her.  "  She 
was,"  says  he,  "  cheerful  and  polite,  and  conversed  pleas 
antly.  The  room  was  clean,  but  had  no  other  furniture 
than  a  mattress,  a  table  with  a  crucifix  and  a  book,  a 
stool  which  she  gave  me  to  sit  on,  and  a  picture  over 
the  chimney,  of  St.  Veronica,  displaying  her  handker 
chief  with  the  miraculous  figure  of  Christ's  bleeding 
face  on  it,  which  she  explained  to  me  with  great  seri 
ousness.  She  looked  pale,  but  was  never  sick ;  and  I 
give  it  as  another  instance  on  how  small  an  income  life 
and  health  may  be  supported." 

A  course  of  life  which  makes  so  trifling  a  demand  up 
on  either  the  corporeal,  or  mental  powers,  as  hers  did, 
does  certainly  need  but  little  sustenance ;  for  the  legiti 
mate  requirement  of  nature  for  food,  is  proportioned  to 
the  daily  expenditure  of  strength,  by  the  employment 
of  mind,  or  body,  or  both. 

Among  the  acquaintances  which  Benjamin  formed, 
while  working  for  Watts,  was  "  an  ingenious  young 
man"  by  the  name  of  Wygate,  who,  "having  wealthy 
relatives,  had  been  better  educated  than  most  printers  ; 
was  a  tolerable  Latinist,  spoke  French,  and  loved  read 
ing."  He  and  a  friend  of  his  were  taught  by  Benjamin 
to  swim,  on  going  but  twice  into  the  Thames ;  after 
which  they  shortly  made  themselves  good  swimmers. 
They  introduced  their  teacher  to  some  of  their  acquaint 
ances  just  come  to  London,  with  whom  the  three  made 
a  party  to  go  by  water  by  Chelsea,  to  see  the  college 
and  the  curiosities  there. 

Wygate  had  said  so  much  to  his  friends,  of  Benja 
min's  remarkable  expertness  in  the  water,  that  they  had 
a  strong  desire  to  tfee  something  of  it ;  and  on  their  re 
turn,  at  the  request  of  the  company,  he  stripped,  and 


SWIMMING.  101 

plunging  into  the  river,  swam  the  distance  from  near 
Chelsea  to  BlackfHars,  performing  on  the  way  "  many 
feats  of  activity  both  upon  and  under  the  water,  which 
surprised  and  pleased  those  to  whom  they  were  novel 
ties."  He  had,  "from  a  child,"  as  he  relates,  "been 
delighted  with  this  exercise  ;  had  studied  and  practised 
Thevenot's  motions  and  positions,  and  added  some  of 
his  own,  aiming  at  the  graceful  and  easy,  as  well  as  the 
useful;"  all  of  which  he  performed,  on  the  occasion 
mentioned,  deriving  much  gratification  from  the  admira 
tion  he  excited. 

Wygate,  who  had  become  filled  with  a  strong  desire 
to  make  himself  a  master  of  the  art,  growing  more  and 
more  warmly  attached  to  Benjamin  on  that  account,  as 
well  as  from  the  similarity  of  their  studies  and  tastes  in 
other  respects,  at  length  proposed  that  they  two  should 
travel  together  all  over  Europe,  paying  their  way  with 
what  they  could  earn  at  different  towns,  by  working  at 
their  trade.  This  would  have  been  literally  restoring 
the  original  usage  of  journeymen  tradesmen,  with  whom 
it  was  common  to  travel,  for  the  purpose  of  accomplish 
ing  themselves  more  thoroughly  in  their  craft.  The  pro 
posal  made  a  strong  impression  upon  Benjamin's  mind, 
and  he  was  at  first  inclined  to  adopt  it.  Upon  talking 
of  it,  however,  with  the  excellent  Mr.  Denham,  with 
whom  Benjamin,  much  to  the  credit  of  his  good  sense 
and  right  feeling,  frequently  spent  a  portion  of  his  lei 
sure,  that  judicious  and  faithful  friend  dissuaded  him 
from  the  project,  and  wisely  urged  him  to  think  only  of 
going  back  to  Philadelphia  with  him,  as  he  now  intend 
ed  soon  to  do. 

Mr.  Denham,  it  has  been  already  intimated,  was  a 
member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  commonly  called 
Quakers  ;  and  Franklin  gives,  in  this  connection,  a  speci 
men  of  his  practice  so  honorable  to  his  principles,  but 

9* 


102  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

so  comparatively  rare,  probably,  in  those  days,  as  well 
as  at  the  present  time,  though  still  so  worthy  of  imita 
tion,  that  the  account  is  too  interesting  and  valuable 
both  as  an  anecdote  and  an  example,  to  be  omitted. 

"  I  must,"  says  Franklin,  "  record  one  trait  of  this 
good  man's  character.  He  had  formerly  been  in  busi 
ness  at  Bristol,  but  failed,  in  debt  to  a  number  of  peo 
ple,  compounded,  and  went  to  America.  There,  by 
close  application  to  business  as  a  merchant,  he  acquired 
a  plentiful  fortune  in  a  few  years.  Returning  to  Eng 
land  in  the  ship  with  me,  he  invited  his  old  creditors  to 
an  entertainment,  at  which  he  thanked  them  for  the  easy 
composition  they  had  favored  him  with,  and,  when  they 
expected  nothing  but  the  treat,  every  man,  at  the  first 
remove,  found  under  his  plate  an  order  on  a  banker,  for 
the  full  amount  of  the  unpaid  remainder,  with  interest." 

If  all  men  in  trade  were  thus  truly  honest  and  just, 
there  would  be  less  complaint  of  the  hardness  of  credi 
tors,  and  little  need  of  bankrupt-acts. 

Mr.  Denham,  having  transacted  the  business  which 
had  brought  him  to  England,  now  informed  Benjamin 
that  he  should  soon  sail  for  Philadelphia,  with  a  large 
stock  of  merchandise,  with  which  he  intended  to  estab 
lish  himself  in  that  city  as  a  merchant.  He  had,  more 
over,  formed  a  most  favorable  estimate  of  his  young 
friend's  capacity  as  well  as  the  native  qualities  of  his 
disposition  ;  and  taking  a  sincere  interest  in  his  welfare, 
for  which  he  could  not  help  feeling  a  lively  concern,  if 
left,  without  any  experienced  and  faithful  adviser,  to  en 
counter  alone  the  hazards  and  perils  of  London,  he  pro 
posed  to  Benjamin  to  take  hirn  as  a  clerk.  The  intel 
ligent  and  worthy  merchant  told  him  that  he  could  soon 
teach  him  the  manner  of  keeping  a  merchant's  ac 
counts  ;  that  in  doing  this,  and  in  copying  business  let 
ters,  in  attending  upon  customers  for  the  sale  of  goods, 


THE    PRINTER    TURNS    MERCHANT.  103 

and  in  the  other  daily-recurring  details  of  mercantile 
affairs,  he  could  speedily  make  himself  acquainted  with 
the  current  prices  of  produce,  merchandise,  and  other 
kinds  of  property,  together  with  the  general  course  and 
management  of  trade ;  that  when  he  should  have  be 
come  sufficiently  familiar  with  these  matters,  he  would 
send  him  out  to  the  West  Indies,  with  a  cargo  of  pro 
visions  and  bread-stuffs,  and  procure  profitable  commis 
sions  for  him,  from  other  merchants ;  and  if  he  should 
give  his  best  energies  to  the  business,  and  acquit  him 
self  according  to  his  capacity,  which  only  needed  some 
practical  development  to  make  him  a  good  merchant, 
he  would  "  establish  him  handsomely." 

This  plan  pleased  .Benjamin.  He  was  becoming 
weary  of  London ;  his  recollections  of  Philadelphia 
were  reviving  many  pleasing  images  in  his  mind,  with 
a  vividness  and  force,  which  were  already  urging  him 
to  return  thither ;  and  he  promptly  agreed  to  the  pro 
posal.  For  his  services  as  clerk  he  was  to  receive  a 
yearly  stipend  of  fifty  pounds,  in  Pennsylvania  curren 
cy..  This  was  less  than  he  was  then  earning  as  a  jour 
neyman-printer  ;  but  he  looked  mainly  at  the  results  of 
the  plan,  and  the  prospects  were  very  inviting. 

"I  now,"  says  he,  "took  leave  of  printing,  as  I 
thought,  forever ;  and  was  daily  employed  in  my  new 
business,  going  about  with  Mr.  Denham  among  the 
tradesmen,  to  purchase  various  articles  and  see  them 
packed,  delivering  messages,  and  calling  upon  workmen 
to  despatch."  These  things  being  done,  and  the  pack 
ages  being  all  duly  put  on  ship-board,  he  still  had  a  few 
days  of  leisure  before  sailing. 

While  thus  waiting  to  take  his  departure,  Benjamin 
was  surprised  by  a  message  from  Sir  William  Wynd- 
ham,  whom  he  had  never  seen  and  knew  only  by  reputa 
tion,  but  who  was  one  of  the  most  accomplished  gentle- 


104  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

men,  as  well  as  one  of  the  most  distinguished  states 
men,  of  that  period,  and  who  wished  to  see  him.  Upon 
waiting  on  him,  Benjamin  found  that  Sir  William,  hav 
ing  heard  of  his  feats  in  swimming,  and  of  his  skill  in 
teaching  others  to  swim,  and  having  two  sons  about  to 
set  forth  upon  their  travels,  wished  to  engage  him  to 
make  them  good  swimmers  before  they  went,  and 
would  pay  liberally  for  such  a  service. 

The  young  men,  however,  had  not  yet  come  to  town, 
and  Benjamin's  remaining  time  in  London,  was  now  too 
contingent  to  allow  him  to  undertake  the  proposed  task. 
The  application,  nevertheless,  induced  him  to  think  that, 
if  he  could  have  stayed  and  opened  a  swimming-school, 
it  would  have  paid  well ;  and  that  he  should  probably 
have  remained  and  tried  the  experiment,  if  the  applica 
tion  had  been  made  before  he  became  engaged  with 
Mr.  Denham. 

In  his  own  narrative  of  his  life,  Franklin  closes  the 
account  of  his  residence  in  London,  at  this  period,  with 
the  following  paragraph,  which  will  also  form  an  ap 
propriate  close  to  this  chapter  : — 

"  Thus  had  I  passed  about  eighteen  months  in  Lon 
don.  Most  part  of  the  time  I  worked  hard  at  my  busi 
ness,  and  spent  but  little  upon  myself  except  in  seeing 
plays,  and  in  books.  My  friend  Ralph  had  kept  me 
poor.  He  owed  me  about  twenty-seven  pounds,  which 
I  was  now  never  likely  to  receive  :  a  great  sum  out  of 
my  small  earnings.  I  loved  him,  notwithstanding,  for 
he  had  many  amiable  qualities.  I  had  improved  my 
knowledge,  however,  though  I  had  by  no  means  im 
proved  my  fortune ;  but  I  had  made  some  very  inge 
nious  acquaintances,  whose  conversation  was  of  great 
advantage  to  me ;  and  I  had  read  considerably." 


EMBARKS    FOR    AMERICA.  105 


CHAPTER  XI. 

LEAVES' ENGLAND VOYAGE  HOME NEW  CONNECTIONS. 

ON  Thursday,  the  21st  of  July,  1726,  in  the  afternoon, 
Benjamin  and  his  friend  Denham  went  on  board  the 
good  ship  Berkshire,  Henry  Clark,  master,  bound  for 
Philadelphia.  As  appears,  however,  by  the  journal, 
which  Benjamin  kept  of  this  voyage,  it  was  many  days 
longer  before  they  were  able  to  leave  the  English  waters 
and  get  fairly  out  to  sea.  Some  of  the  incidents  which 
occurred  during  this  delay  on  the  coast  of  England,  and 
on  the  homeward  passage,  though  not  incorporated  in 
Franklin's  own  biographical  narrative,  are,  neverthe 
less,  by  no  means  without  interest ;  and  as  they  not  only 
belong  to  his  life  as  truly  as  if  they  had  occurred  at 
a  fixed  residence  on  land,  but  served,  also,  to  enlarge 
his  experience  and  his  stock  of  ideas,  some  of  the  more 
entertaining  and  instructive  among  them  are  here 
briefly  related. 

They  lingered  in  the  Thames  two  days,  and  did  not 
pass  the  Downs  and  enter  the  straits  of  Dover  till  the 
24th  of  July.  As  they  sailed  along  that  narrow  sea,  at 
an  easy  rate,  before  a  fresh  breeze  and  under  a  clear 
blue  sky,  Benjamin,  sitting  on  the  quarter-deck  of  the 
Berkshire  and  noting  what  he  saw,  in  his  diary,  was  fa 
vored  with  one  of  the  fairest  and  most  exhilarating 


106  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

scenes  the  eye  can  rest  on.  A  large  number  of  ships, 
with  all  their  canvass  spread  and  trimmed  to  every  va 
riety  of  course,  were  moving  before  him  in  all  directions 
over  the  gleaming  waters ;  the  coast  of  France  was 
looming  far  in  the  distance,  to  the  left ;  while  nearer, 
on  the  right,  and  in  distinct  view,  were  seen  the  town 
of  Dover  with  the  massive  towers  and  battlements  of  its 
huge  old  castle  looking  down  upon  it  in  protecting 
strength,  and  the  chalky  cliffs  and  green  hills  of  the 
English  shore  —  all  in  seeming. motion  and  receding  in 
a  sort  of  countermarch,  as  he  went  by. 

The  next  morning,  however,  the  wind  failed,  and  a 
short  calm  was  followed  by  very  variable  weather,  till  the 
27th,  when  so  heavy  a  gale  came  from  the  west,  right 
in  their  teeth,  that  they  ran  for  a  harbor;  and  coming 
to  anchor  at  Spithead,  off  Portsmouth,  Benjamin  took 
the  opportunity  to  visit  that  ancient  town,  one  of  the 
principal  naval  stations  of  England,  and  famous  for  its 
vast  ship-yards.  The  entrance  to  Portsmouth  is  stated 
to  be  so  narrow,  with  such  bold  shores,  that  the  forts 
which  guard  it,  one  on  each  side,  are  but  a  stone's  throw 
apart;  while  the  haven  within  has  ample  space  to 
moor  the  whole  British  navy.  He  found  the  place 
strongly  fortified,  surrounded  by  a  high  wall,  with  a 
spacious  moat  crossed  by  two  draw-bridges  fronting, 
respectively,  the  two  gates  of  the  town,  which  depended, 
then  as  now,  for  the  support  of  its  population,  mainly 
on  its  ship-yards  and  the  trade  connected  with  them. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  objects  pointed  out  to 
Benjamin,  during  his  brief  visit  to  Portsmouth,  was  a  dun 
geon,  called  "Johnny  Gibson's  Hole,"  under  the  town- 
wall  near  one  of  the  gates,  where  John  Gibson,  gover 
nor  of  the  place  in  Queen  Anne's  reign,  and  a  heart 
less  tyrant,  made  it  a  practice  to  shut  in  and  starve  the 
soldiers  of  the  garrison,  for  the  most  trifling  irregular!- 


LOVE     OF    WAR ITS    FRUITS.  107 

ties.  On  this  cruel  and  needless  severity,  Benjamin 
makes  a  comment  which  is  here  copied,  not  only  for  its 
pertinency  and  justness,  but  as  an  indication,  also,  of 
the  range  of  his  reading  and  his  habits  of  reflection,  at 
that  early  period.  Admitting  the  importance  of  good 
discipline,  he  adds  the  remark,  that  —  "Alexander  and 
Ccesar,  those  renowned  generals,  received  more  faith 
ful  service,  and  performed  greater  actions,  by  means  of 
the  love  their  soldiers  bore  them,  than  they  could  pos 
sibly  have  done,  if,  instead  of  being  beloved  and  re 
spected,  they  had  been  hated  and  feared,  by  those  they 
commanded." 

After  all,  however,  the  general  condition  of  the  rank 
and  file  of  armies,  has  been,  on  the  whole,  but  little  re 
lieved  by  such  occasional  examples  of  clemency  and 
care  on  the  part  of  a  few  great  leaders ;  and  the  prac 
tice  of  "  Johnny  Gibson,"  there  is  but  too  much  reason 
to  believe,  may,  in  its  spirit  and  essence,  be  deemed 
more  in  accord  with  actual  experience,  or  a  truer  speci 
men  of  those  fruits,  which,  among  nations  particularly 
covetous  of  martial  fame,  war,  with  its  manifold  con 
comitants —  its  costly  establishments  —  the  life  of  its 
camps  and  garrisons,  and  the  despotic  power  and  sum 
mary  procedure  by  which  alone  can  that  life  be  regu 
lated —  has  usually  yielded  to  the  common  soldiery  and 
the  mass  of  the  people.  Its  pomps  and  splendors  — 
its  gains  and  glories — have  been  mostly  for  the  great 
ones  —  for  the  high-born,  privileged,  or  lucky  few; 
while  its  deadliest  perils  and  most  exhausting  labors  — 
its  foot-blistering  marches  and  weary  night-watches  — 
the  pestilence  of  its  camps  and  the  bloody  havoc  of  its 
battle-fields  —  its  nakedness  and  famine  —  its  dungeons 
and  prison-ships  —  its  desolated  hearths,  its  peeled  and 
scattered  families,  its  heavy  taxes,  hard  toil,  maimed 
limbs,  vagrant  beggary,  and  its  thousand  nameless  woes, 


108  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN     FRANKLIN. 

have  been  the  harvest  of  the  humble,  unprivileged,  un 
friended  many. 

Leaving  Portsmouth  on  the  28th  of  July  and  pro 
ceeding  along  the  straits,  which  separate  the  Isle  of 
Wight  from  the  shore  of  England,  they  visited  Cowes, 
Newport,  and  Yarmouth,  the  three  principal  towns  of 
the  Isle,  and  at  one  or  other  of  which  the  Berkshire 
was  detained  by  head  winds  for  nearly  a  fortnight. 
Though  becoming  impatient  to  be  once  more  in  Phil 
adelphia,  this  delay  was  by  no  means  lost  time  to  Ben 
jamin;  for  he  took  the  opportunity  to  gratify  his  curi 
osity  by  seeing,  as  fully  as  circumstances  allowed,  what 
that  side  of  the  island  contained. 

Cowes,  a  port  often  visited  riow-a-days  by  the  mer 
chant-vessels  of  the  United  States,  is  built  on  both 
sides  of  a  small  estuary,  which  sends  a  narrow  inlet 
about  four  miles  inland,  along  a  pleasant  vale  at  the 
head  of  which  stands  Newport,  the  residence  of  the 
governor  of  the  island,  and  an  inviting  little  town, 
embellished  arid  refreshed  by  an  unusual  abundance 
of  fine  trees  and  shrubbery.  But  Newport  is  rep 
resented  as  being  chiefly  remarkable  for  its  trade  in 
oysters,  reputed  to  be  superior  to  any  others  found  on 
the  British  coasts.  It  appears,  however,  that  these  oys 
ters  are  not  natives  of  the  place  but  are  procured  else 
where,  and,  to  fatten  and  prepare  them  for  market,  they 
are  planted  in  regular  beds  in  the  Newport  waters, 
which  contain,  doubtless,  some  ingredient  particularly 
acceptable  to  the  oysters  for  food,  and  imparting  to 
them  their  fine  relish.  A  case  bearing  a  strong  analogy 
to  this,  is  that  of  the  famous  canvass-back  ducks,  which 
frequent  the  lower  reaches  of  the  Susquehannah  river 
and  the  head-waters  of  the  Chesapeake  bay,  and  derive 
their  peculiarly  fine  and  delicate  flavor  from  the  wild 


CARISBROOK    CASTLE.  109 

celery,  which  abounds  in  their  favorite  haunts,  and 
on  which  they  chiefly  feed. 

But  Benjamin's  most  interesting  excursion,  during 
his  stay  on  this  island,  was  his  visit  to  the  village  and 
castle  of  Carisbrook,  about  a  mile  back  of  Newport. 
Except  the  ruins  of  a  fine  old  Gothic  church,  the  mother- 
church  of  the  whole  isle,  and  in  the  palmy  days  of  pa 
pal  supremacy,  connected  with  a  priory,  the  village  con 
tained  little  to  attract  a  tourist ;  and  passing  the  small 
brook,  which  skirts  it  and  gives  name  to  the  whole  lo 
cality,  he  made  his  way,  with  a  boy  for  his  guide,  up  a 
steep  hill,  on  the  sides  and  summit  of  which  stood  the 
dilapidated  walls  and  towers  of  Carisbrook  castle,  once 
an  extensive  and  strong  fortress,  but  in  1726  little  bet 
ter  than  a  mass  of  ivy-mantled  ruins. 

The  outer  wall  and  fosse  of  the  castle  encircled  the 
hill  so  near  its  base  as  to  enclose  a  very  large  area,  in 
the  lower  portion  of  which  and  contiguous  to  the  wall, 
had  been  erected  those  parts  of  the  vast  structure  de 
signed  for  household  and  other  ordinary  civic  uses ; 
while  high  above,  on  the  crest  of  the  commanding 
height,  stood  the  massive  and  round  towers  of  the  keep, 
the  strongest  and  most  ancient  part  of  the  fortress,  the 
ascent  to  which  was  by  a  steep  and  narrow  stair-way  of 
a  hundred  stone  steps. 

Within  this  citadel  was  the  famous  well,  said  to  have 
been,  when  dug,  the  deepest  in  the  world.  To  assist  him 
in  forming  some  judgment  of  its  depth,  Benjamin  drop 
ped  a  stone  into  it,  and  though  great  quantities  of  rubbish 
had  accumulated  above  its  original  bottom,  yet  he  found 
it  to  be  about  fifteen  seconds  before  the  stone  was  heard 
to  strike.  A  more  accurate  estimate  of  its  depth,  how 
ever,  could  be  formed,  probably,  by  comparing  it  with 
the  well  then  actually  in  use,  in  the  lower  part  of  the 
castle.  That  well  was  known  to  be  thirty  fathoms  deep  ; 

10 


110  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

and  as  the  water  in  both  the  wells  was  doubtless  supplied 
from  the  same  source  and  at  the  same  level,  the  height 
of  the  upper  well's  mouth  above  that  of  the  lower  one, 
being  added  to  the  thirty  fathoms  mentioned,  would  give 
the  true  original  depth  of  the  upper  well,  and  make  it 
about  three  hundred  feet.  From  this  lower  well  the 
people  in  and  about  the  castle  obtained  their  daily  sup 
plies  of  water,  which  they  raised  by  means  of  a  very 
large  wheel  and  axle  with  a  barrel  for  a  bucket.  "  It 
makes,"  says  the  journal,  "  a  great  sound,  if  you  speak 
in  it,  and  it  echoed  the  flute  which  we  played  over  it, 
very  sweetly." 

The  old  man,  who  acted  as  nominal  keeper  of  the 
place,  but  whose  chief  occupation  was  selling  cake  and 
beer  at  the  castle-gate,  told  Benjamin  that  the  castle  was 
originally  founded  in  the  year  523,  by  one  Whitgert,  a 
Saxon  chief,  who  had  conquered  the  island,  and  from 
whom  it  bore,  for  many  ages,  the  name  of  Whitgerts- 
burg.  Indeed,  in  its  present  name  there  is  a  trace  of 
its  Saxon  conqueror. 

This  castle  was  extensively  repaired,  strengthened, 
and  embellished  by  Queen  Elizabeth,  in  1598;  in  testi 
mony  whereof,  Benjamin  found  on  the  walls,  in  several 
places,  the  following  brief  inscription  :  —  "1598,  E.  R. 
40:"  —  meaning,  doubtless,  that  in  the  year  1598,  the 
40lh  of  her  reign,  Elizabeth,  Regina  (queen),  caused 
these  repairs  to  be  made. 

Since  the  middle  of  the  17th  century,  Carisbrook  cas 
tle  has  been  remembered  in  history,  chiefly  from  its  con 
nection  with  the  fortunes  of  Charles  I.,  king  of  Eng 
land.  In  the  latter  part  of  1647,  that  misguided  mon 
arch,  in  a  sudden  but  characteristic  freak  of  mind,  filled 
out  the  measure  of  his  wayward  career,  by  voluntarily 
placing  himself  in  the  custody  of  Colonel  Hammond,  a 
generous  and  humane  man,  but  belonging,  as  was  well 


ISLE     OF    WIGHT.  Ill 

known,  to  the  party  led  by  Charles's  most  powerful  an 
tagonist,  Oliver  Cromwell,  the  ablest  of  that  age ;  in 
which  custody,  kindly  treated,  but  strictly  guarded,  the 
unthroned  king  remained  till  about  the  end  of  1648, 
when  he  was  removed,  for  a  brief  space,  first  to  Hurst- 
castle  in  Hampshire,  and  thence  to  London,  to  trial, 
sentence,  a  scaffold,  and  the  axe,  in  January,  1649,  as  a 
traitor  to  his  country. 

The  castle-towers,  on  the  crest  of  the  hill,  afforded 
a  wide  and  beautiful  prospect,  including  most  of  the 
island,  which  is  about  sixty  miles  in  circuit,  and  is  rep 
resented  as  being  occupied  by  a  sound  and  able-bodied 
population,  with  its  soil  even  then  well  cultivated,  and 
producing,  says  Benjamin's  journal,  " plenty  of  wheat 
and  other  provisions,  and  wool  as  fine  as  Cotswold." 

The  wool-growers  of  the  present  day,  who  clip  their 
fleeces  from  the  purest  merinos  and  saxonies,  may 
smile  to  see  the  wool  of  Cotswold  offered  as  a  standard. 
That  standard  has  doubtless  risen  since  1726,  among 
the  farmers  of  the  Isle  of  Wight,  as  well  as  elsewhere ; 
and  the  same  region  has  witnessed  other  changes  of  yet 
graver  moment;  for  while  the  once  massive  walls  of 
Carisbrook  castle  have  become  heaps  of  rubbish,  testi 
fying  that  the  age  of  lawless  power  and  rapine  they 
originally  betokened,  has  passed  away,  the  fields  of  the 
Isle  of  Wight  have  been  improving,  with  the  increasing 
stability  of  private  rights  and  social  order,  till  they  now 
constitute  one  of  the  most  productive  and  beautiful  dis 
tricts  in  the  whole  realm  of  England. 

Before  leaving  the  island,  the  Berkshire  touched  at 
Yarmouth.  The  most  striking  object  Benjamin  no 
ticed  at  this  place,  was  a  finely-executed  marble  statue, 
in  armor,  on  the  tomb  of  Sir  Robert  Holmes,  a  former 
governor  of  the  island.  This  statue  was  said  to  have 
been  executed  in  Italy  for  Louis  XIV.  of  France,  and 


112  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN     FRANKLIN. 

intended  for  one  of  the  ornaments  of  his  magnificent 
palace  at  Versailles ;  but  the  vessel,  which  was  taking 
it  to  France,  being  wrecked  on  the  island  in  the  time 
of  Sir  Robert,  he  got  possession  of  the  statue  and  di 
rected  that  after  his  death  it  should  be  placed  on  his 
own  tomb. 

At  length,  on  the  9th  of  August,  the  wind  came  fair, 
and  taking  leave  of  England,  mainland  and  island,  the 
Berkshire  stood  away  for  America.  The  voyage  was 
not  marked  by  any  events  of  magnitude ;  but  a  few  of 
its  incidents,  having  something  of  instruction  or  enter 
tainment,  are  here  noticed. 

On  the  21st  of  August,  in  the  afternoon,  when  about 
six  hundred  miles  from  land,  a  small  bird,  blown  off  to 
sea  during  some  recent  thick  weather,  lighted,  or  rather 
fell  on  deck ;  but  was  too  much  exhausted  even  to  take 
nourishment,  and  died  in  a  few  hours,  though  tenderly 
treated.  The  occurrence,  not  without  interest  in  itself, 
is  remarkable  chiefly  for  the  great  distance  from  land 
when  it  happened. 

An  entry  of  more  value  for  the  information  it  con 
veys  to  the  general  reader,  is  made  in  the  journal  under 
date  of  September  2d,  relative  to  the  dolphin.  It  is 
not  commonly  known  among  landsmen  that  this  fish  is 
eaten ;  but  two  dolphins  being  caught  in  the  morning 
of  the  day  named,  they  were  fried  for  dinner,  and 
"  tasted  tolerably  well."  Among  mere  landsmen,  more 
over,  the  prevalent  notion  of  the  appearance  and  char 
acter  of  this  fish,  is  probably  that  which  has  been  re 
ceived  from  the  poets  and  artists,  who  have  given  it  a 
form  wholly  unlike  its  real  one,  and  who  have  a  fanci 
ful  tradition  that,  in  the  dying  moments  of  the  dolphin, 
a  succession  of  quick-shifting  brilliant  colors  play  over 
its  body  as  life  is  ebbing  away. 

These  notions   are  mere  fancies,  the  dolphin  being 


THE  DOLPHIN,  AND  THE  SHARK.         113 

"  as  beautiful  and  well-shaped  a  fish  as  any  that  swims  ;" 
making  "a  glorious  appearance  in  the  water"  the  body 
being  "of  a  bright  green  mixed  with  a  silver  tint,  and 
the  tail  of  a  shining  golden  yellow."  On  being  taken 
out  of  the  water,  however,  these  splendid  dyes  all  van 
ish  together,  giving  place  to  a  uniform  pale  gray,  the 
usual  hue  of  death.  One  of  the  most  successful  baits 
for  the  dolphin  is  a  candle  with  a  feather  fixed  in  each 
side,  to  imitate  the  appearance  of  its  frequent  food,  the 
flying  fish ;  and  three  large  dolphins  thus  caught  one 
day,  made  a  sufficient  dinner  for  the  whole  ship's  com 
pany,  twenty-one  in  number. 

On  Wednesday,  the  14th  of  September,  in  the  after 
noon,  occurred  one  of  the  most  sublime  and  awe-giving 
spectacles  the  material  universe  can  present  to  human 
eyes  —  an  eclipse  of  the  sun  nearly  total,  full  ten  twelfths 
of  its  disk  being  covered  by  the  intervening  moon. 

With  the  wind  almost  unvaryingly  ahead,  the  conse 
quent  slow  progress,  and  an  ill-assorted  dull  company, 
the  passage  was  now  becoming  exceedingly  wearisome; 
and  the  supply  of  bread  was  getting  so  low  that  on  the 
20th  of  September,  they  were  all  put  upon  a  specific 
allowance  of  two  and  a  half  biscuits  a  day.  They  had 
run  so  far  south,  too,  that  the  weather  was  uncomforta 
bly  hot ;  and  on  the  day  after  the  allowance  was  order 
ed,  the  ship  idly  rocking  in  the  calm  and  the  heat  being 
very  oppressive,  Benjamin  was  about  to  refresh  both  his 
body  and  his  spirits  by  a  -cooling  bath  in  the  sea,  when 
a  shark,  "that  mortal  enemy  to  swimmers,"  was  fortu 
nately  discovered  in  season  to  prevent  what  would,  other 
wise,  have  proved  probably  his  last  bath. 

The  habits  of  the  shark  are  interesting.  This  one  is 
represented  as  "moving  round  the  ship  at  some  dis 
tance,  in  a  slow  majestic  manner,"  waited  on  by  his 
usual  retinue  of  little  pilot-fishes,  the  largest  of  them 


114  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN     FRANKLIN. 

being  less  than  the  smaller  mackerel,  and  the  smallest, 
not  much  larger  than  minnows.  Of  "these  diminutive 
pilots  two  kept  just  before  the  shark's  nose,"  seeming 
really  to  control  his  movements  ;  while  the  rest  of  the 
train  swam  about  him,  without  any  special  duty  to  per 
form,  unless  it  was,  according  to  the  common  belief  of 
sailors,  to  act  as  his  purveyors  of  food ;  receiving  from 
him,  in  return  for  such  service,  protection  from  one  of 
their  most  destructive  enemies,  the  swift  and  voracious 
dolphin.  A  strong  well-baited  hook  was  thrown  out  for 
the  sea-robber ;  but  he  had,  probably,  dulled  the  fierce 
edge  of  his  formidable  appetite,  with  some  recent  vic 
tim,  and  declined  the  invitation  to  a  lunch  so  soon  after. 

Two  days  afterward  they  spoke  a  ship  from  Dublin, 
bound  for  New  York,  carrying  out  about  fifty  emigrants 
to  their  Land  of  Promise.  The  two  vessels  approached 
each  other  within  easy  hail,  and  all  on  board  of  each 
presented  themselves,  to  enjoy  a  look  at  other  human 
faces  thus  casually  encountered  in  the  midst  of  the  lone 
ly  waste  of  waters.  The  feeling  that  springs  from  mere 
identity  of  race  —  the  sympathy  of  a  common  nature  — 
is  probably  felt  nowhere  so  strongly  as  out  on  the  wide 
ocean,  under  precisely  the  circumstances  here  men 
tioned  ;  and  the  exhilarating  influence  of  such  a  meeting 
is  so  well  described  in  the  journal  before  us,  that  we 
transcribe  the  passage  :  it  will  recall  to  many  a  beauti 
ful  parallel  passage  in  Irving's  "  Sketch  Book:"  — 

"There  was  really,"  says- the  journal,  "something 
strangely  cheering  to  the  spirits,  in  the  meeting  of  a 
ship  at  sea,  containing  a  society  of  creatures  of  the  same 
species  and  in  the  same  circumstances  with  ourselves, 
after  we  had  been  long  separated  from  the  rest  of  man 
kind.  My  heart  fluttered  in  my  breast  with  joy,  when 
I  saw  so  many  human  countenances,  and  I  could  scarce 
refrain  from  that  kind  of  laughter  which  proceeds  from 


•v  TORNADO    AT    SEA.  115 

inward  pleasure.  When  we  have  been  for  a  considera 
ble  time  tossing  on  the  vast  waters,  far  from  the  sight 
of  land  or  ships,  or  any  mortal  creature  but  ourselves, 
except  a  few  fish  and  sea-birds,  the  whole  world,  for 
aught  we  know,  may  be  under  a  second  deluge,  and  we, 
like  Noah  and  his  companions  in  the  Ark,  the  only  sur 
viving  remnant  of  the  human  race." 

For  the  following  day  or  two  the  wind  became  more 
favorable,  and  sent  them  along  at  a  rate,  which  so  raised 
their  spirits  that  they  began  to  talk  of  Philadelphia  and 
think  of  the  friends  they  should  soon  meet ;  when,  early 
in  the  morning  of  September  26th,  they  suddenly  found 
themselves,  without  any  previous  warning,  in  the  very 
vortex  of  a  violent  tornado,  which  wheeled  in  so  short 
a  curve,  that  the  forward  sails  were  filled  on  one  side, 
and  the  sails  aft  on  the  other  ;  and  the  rain  and  the  gale 
were  both  so  violent  that  "  the  sea  looked  like  a  dish 
of  cream."  Luckily,  however,  the  tornado  soon  passed 
off  on  its  whirling  track,  and  was  succeeded,  to  the  joy 
of  all,  by  a  fresh  northeaster,  which  sped  the  Berkshire 
cheerily  on  her  course. 

In  a  day  or  two,  however,  the  wind  veered  again  to 
the  west  and  north  of  west,  from  which  quarter  it  had, 
indeed,  come  during  most  of  their  run  thus  far.  But 
though  they  had  thus  been  compelled,  in  order  to  make 
any  headway,  to  take  a  very  southerly  course,  and  were 
making  their  track  a  very  long  one,  yet  on  the  28th 
they  entered  the  gulf-stream,  which  was  indicated  by 
the  sea- weed,  which  is  spread  over  the  Atlantic  from 
near  the  American  coast  to  the  Azores,  by  that  great 
oceanic  river. 

On  fishing  up  and  examining  some  of  this  weed,  his 
curiosity  was  much  excited  by  finding  numerous  speci 
mens  of  a  small  shell-fish  adhering  to  its  branches. 
The  smallest  of  them  contained  what  seemed  to  the 


116  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

naked  eye  merely  a  soft  unorganized  pulp  ;  but  the 
larger  ones  plainly  manifested  animal  life,  by  opening 
and  shutting  their  shells,  and  thrusting  forth  claws  re 
sembling  the  crab's,  but  not  yet  fully  formed.  On  look 
ing  more  closely  among  the  branches,  he  discovered  a 
very  small  crab,  not  so  large  as  his  finger-nail,  detached 
from  the  weed.  This  naturally  suggested  the  inference 
that  the  little  shells  still  adhering  to  the  weed,  contained 
the  embryos  of  other  animals  of  the  same  species  ;  and 
the  better  to  test  this  inference,  he  put  a  branch,  with 
many  adhering  shells  upon  it,  into  a  cask  of  sea-water, 
intending  to  renew  the  water  from  time  to  time,  and 
watch  the  result.  The  very  next  day  he  found  in  the 
cask  another  young  crab,  so  small  that  it  seemed  just 
separated  from  its  native  branch.  But  the  weed  in  the 
cask  was  now  wilted,  and  the  other  embryos  dead,  so 
that  his  experiment  was  cut  short. 

The  facts  he  had  already  observed,  however,  satisfied 
him  that  his  inference  was  correct.  He  now  recollected 
also,  that  during  a  recent  calm,  he  had  seen  a  crab  swim 
ming  among  the  floating  weeds,  on  which  it  was  then 
supposed  to  be  feeding;  and  other  circumstances  re 
lating  to  this  same  species  of  shell-fish,  now  recurred 
to  his  mind  and  served  to  corroborate  his  views. 

These  circumstances  are  related  as  serving  to  present 
the  mental  habits  and  tendencies  of  the  subject  of  our 
narrative,  in  an  interesting  light,  and  as  exemplifying 
that  spirit  of  observation  which,  as  it  became  more  de 
veloped  by  exercise,  led  him  to  those  philosophical 
investigations  for  which  he  ultimately  became  so  pre 
eminently  distinguished. 

A  day  or  two  after  the  incidents  just  related,  another 
interesting  phenomenon  occurred,  in  the  heavens.  This 
was  an  eclipse  of  the  moon.  According  to  the  calcula 
tion  of  this  eclipse  for  the  meridian  of  London,  it  was 


ECLIPSE    OF    MOON FLYING-FISH.  117 

to  commence  at  5,  A.  M.,  of  September  30th ;  but  at 
the  longitude  of  the  Berkshire  it  began  at  about  11, 
P.  M.,  of  the  29th,  and  continued  nearly  three  hours. 
At  the  moment  of  greatest  obscuration,  which  was 
about  half  an  hour  after  midnight,  six  digits,  or  one  half 
of  the  moon's  disk,  was  covered  by  the  shadow  of  the 
earth. 

On  the  morning  of  October  4th,  a  flying-fish  was 
found  dead  on  deck,  where  it  had  probably  alighted 
from  its  flight  to  escape  its  most  persecuting  enemy,  the 
dolphin.  Its  wings  are  described  as  being  of  a  fin-like 
structure,  and  extending  from  a  little  back  of  the  gills 
nearly  to  the  tail.  Its  flight  is  straight-forward,  com 
monly  from  six  to  ten  feet  above  the  water,  and  some 
times  reaching  forty  or  fifty  yards,  or  as  long  as  the 
wings  continue  wet  enough  to  hold  the  air.  When  hard 
pressed  by  the  dolphin,  they  rise,  usually  in  little  flocks 
of  four  or  five,  and  sometimes  more  ;  but  their  swift 
pursuer,  aware  of  their  straight  flight,  holds  right  on, 
and  is  generally  at  the  spot  ready  to  seize  them  when 
they  again  touch  the  water. 

On  the  evening  of  the  same  day  the  Berkshire's  com 
pany  were  cheered  by  tokens  of  nearing  land.  These 
tokens  had,  in  truth,  begun  to  excite  more  than  ordinary 
interest,  for  "  the  ship's  crew  was  now  brought  to  a 
short  allowance  of  water."  Happily,  on  the  7th  of 
October,  the  wind,  so  long  contrary,  came  fresh  and 
strong  from  the  northeast,  sending  the  ship  steadily  on 
her  course,  full  seven  knots  an  hour;  and  holding  at  the 
same  point  for  the  two  following  days,  they  sped  on 
ward,  amid  multiplying  signs  that  they  were  at  length 
rapidly  approaching  the  American  coast,  till,  on  Sunday, 
the  9th  of  October,  a  little  past  noon,  a  man  on  the  look 
out  aloft,  to  the  great  joy  of  all  in  the  ship,  gave  "  the 
long-wished-for  cry  of  LAND."  Sixty  full  days  had  now 


118  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

elapsed  since  Benjamin  had  taken  his  last  look  at  the 
shores  of  England  ;  and  when,  about  an  hour  later,  the 
coast  of  his  native  land  became  visible  from  the  Berk 
shire's  deck,  it  was  for  a  time  somewhat  dimmed  to  the 
moist  eyes  with  which  he  gazed  upon  it. 

Captain  Clark,  however,  being  wholly  unacquainted 
with  the  coast,  and  no  pilot  appearing,  the  Berkshire 
did  not  enter  the  Delaware  till  the  next  day  ;  and  the 
evening  of  still  another  day  came  round,  before  Benja 
min  actually  set  foot  again  in  Philadelphia,  when  his 
journal  is  closed  with  a  warm  expression  of  gladness, 
and  a  hearty  "  thank  God,"  on  the  safe  completion  of 
"so  tedious  and  dangerous  a  voyage." 

But  far  the  most  important  subject  that  occupied 
Benjamin's  mind,  on  this  long  passage,  remains  to  be 
noticed  in  closing  this  chapter.  That  subject  was  the 
regulation  of  his  future  career — the  methodizing  of  his 
life  upon  some  comprehensive  system,  including  not 
merely  the  occupation  by  which  he  was  to  gain  his  live 
lihood,  but  other  fixed  and  definite  objects,  for  the  attain 
ment  of  which  his  faculties  should  be  exerted,  so  that 
neither  ability  nor  opportunity  should  be  wasted  in  in 
decision,  or  in  unproductive  because  aimless  effort. 

To  aid  him  in  accomplishing  a  purpose  of  such  grave 
concern,  he  availed  himself  of  his  leisure  at  sea  to  di 
gest  such  a  plan  and  reduce  it  to  writing.  In  his  own* 
account  of  his  life,  long  years  after,  he  refers  to  that 
plan  as  making  part  of  his  journal  ;  but  it  is  not  there. 
It  was  probably  lost,  with  a  great  many  other  of  his  pa 
pers,  during  his  long-protracted  absence  from  home  and 
country  in  the  public  service  ;  so  that  no  judgment  can 
now  be  formed  of  it,  except  by  way  of  inference  from 
other  portions  of  his  writings  on  similar  topics,  and 
from  the  actual  course  of  his  life.  Such  an  inference  is 
the  more  to  be  relied  on  in  this  case,  for  an  idea  of  the 


END    OF    VOYAGE.  119 

general  tenor  of  the  plan  in  question,  for  the  reason  that, 
on  adverting  to  it,  as  stated,  he  speaks  of  it  with  a  just 
satisfaction,  as  being  the  more  worthy  of  mention  be 
cause,  though  formed  at  so  early  an  age,  he  had,  never 
theless,  "  pretty  faithfully  adhered  to  it,  quite  through 
to  old  age." 


120  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

CHANGES     IN     PHILADELPHIA DEATH     OF     MR.     DENHAM 

SENDS    BENJAMIN    TO     HIS    TRADE    AGAIN. 

ON  returning  to  Philadelphia,  and  looking  about 
among  his  former  acquaintances  to  reconnect  the  social 
ties  which  had  been  temporarily  severed,  Benjamin 
found  that  an  absence  of  less  than  even  two  years  had 
made  room  for  various  changes.  During  that  absence, 
Sir  William  Keith,  the  governor  of  the  province  when 
Benjamin  sailed  for  England,  had  been  removed,  and 
Major  Patrick  Gordon  appointed  in  his  place.  Keith, 
however,  still  remained  in  Philadelphia;  and  when  he 
again  saw  in  its  streets  the  young  man  he  had  so  un 
worthily  deceived,  manifested  some  consciousness  of 
shame  for  his  conduct,  by  shrinking  away  from  any 
meeting  with  him. 

But  a  change  of  more  interest  to  Benjamin  was  the 
marriage  of  Miss  Read.  After  the  arrival  of  the  letter, 
which,  as  heretofore  mentioned,  he  wrote  to  her  from 
London,  her  friends  insisted  that  there  was  no  proba 
bility  he  would  ever  return,  and  persuaded  her  to  marry 
a  man  by  the  name  of  Rogers.  He  was  a  potter  by 
trade,  and  is  represented  as  being  a  very  skilful  work 
man.  His  prospects  in  business  being  considered  highly 
promising,  the  friends  of  Miss  Read  urged  the  match, 
without  making,  as  it  seems,  any  sufficient  inquiry  into 
his  personal  character  or  private  connections.  The 


.Vp       OLD    ACQUAINTANCES.  121 

marriage  was  an  ill-judged  and  unhappy  one  ;  and  from 
the  circumstances  attending  it,  as  briefly  alluded  to  by 
Franklin,  it  seems  nearly  certain  that  the  young  lady 
herself  assented  to  it  very  reluctantly.  It  was  soon  fol 
lowed  by  her  refusal  to  live  with  her  husband,  or  to  be 
called  by  his  name  ;  and  a  report  becoming  prevalent 
that  he  actually  had  another  wife  living,  she  wholly  re 
nounced  the  connection.  Rogers,  in  fact,  proved  to  be 
unprincipled  and  worthless ;  and  a  year  or  two  later, 
having  involved  himself  deeply  in  debt,  he  absconded  to 
the  West  Indies,  where  he  died ;  thus  relieving  his  no 
minal  wife  and  her  friends  from  all  further  embarrass 
ment  or- annoyance  through  him. 

Of  the  other  persons  already  introduced  into  this  nar 
rative  on  account  of  their  connection  with  Benjamin, 
the  only  one  remaining  to  be  noticed  in  this  place,  was 
the  eccentric  Keimer.  His  condition  appeared  to  have 
become  considerably  improved.  He  had  obtained  posses 
sion  of  a  much  better  house,  in  which  he  had  opened  a 
shop,  with  a  good  assortment  of  stationery ;  his  printing- 
office  was  well  supplied  with  types  and  other  furniture  j 
and  he  had  several  workmen  in  his  employ,  with  appa 
rently  work  enough  to  keep  them  busy. 

Benjamin,  however,  had  returned,  it  will  be  recol 
lected,  not  as  a  journeyman  printer,  but  as  a  merchant's 
clerk.  His  principal  and  friend,  Mr.  Denham,  lost  no 
time  in  opening  his  store  of  goods  ;  and  his  clerk,  giving 
diligent  and  earnest  attention  to  his  new  business,  soon 
made  himself  a  correct  and  ready  accountant,  as  well 
as  an  adroit  and  acceptable  salesman.  They  both  lived 
under  the  same  roof,  more  like  father  and  son  than  as 
master  and  servant ;  the  excellent  and  intelligent  Qua 
ker  merchant  taking  a  sincere  paternal  interest  in  the 
welfare  of  his  young  friend  and  assistant,  and  the  latter 

11 


122  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN     FRANKLIN. 

cherishing  for  his  patron  and  employer  a  truly  filial  re 
spect  and  affection. 

A  letter  of  Benjamin's,  dated  on  the  6th  of  January, 
O.  S.,  1727  —  the  21st  anniversary  of  his  birthday  —  to 
Jane,  his  youngest  sister,  and  the  last  child  of  her  pa 
rents,  presents  such  pleasing  proof  of  the  kindliness  of 
his  nature,  and,  besides  the  justness  of  its  sentiments, 
gives  so  early  an  indication  of  the  prevalent  bent  of  his 
mind  in  favor  of  what  is  useful  rather  than  showy,  that 
the  insertion  of  it  here  seems  to  be  demanded,  not 
merely  for  the  reasons  mentioned,  but  as  being  in  a  man 
ner  necessary  to  the  just  estimate  of  his  character.  To 
give  the  letter  its  full  significance,  moreover,  it  should 
be  observed  that  Jane  Franklin  was  now  fast  verging  to 
the  end  of  her  15th  year,  which  was  completed  in  the 
following  March,  and  that  her  brother  had  recently 
heard  of  her  intended  marriage  with  Edward  Mecom, 
which  actually  took  place  in  the  succeeding  July,  the 
fourth  month  of  her  16th  year.  The  interest  of  this 
letter  is  somewhat  enhanced,  also,  by  the  fact  that,  ex 
cepting  only  the  brief  note  to  Sir  Hans  Sloane,  relative 
to  the  asbestos  purse,  this  is  the  earliest  piece  of  writing 
from  the  same  pen,  now  in  print.  The  letter  is  as  fol 
lows  : — 

"  DEAR  SISTER  :  I  am  highly  pleased  with  the  ac 
count  Captain  Freeman  gives  me  of  you.  I  always 
judged  by  your  behavior  when  a  child,  that  you  would 
make  a  good  and  agreeable  woman  ;  and  you  know  you 
were  ever  my  peculiar  favorite.  I  have  been  thinking 
what  would  be  a  suitable  present  for  me  to  make,  and 
for  you  to  receive,  as  I  hear  you  are  grown  a  celebrated 
beauty.  I  had  almost  determined  on  a  tea-table  ;  but 
when  I  considered,  that  the  character  of  a  good  house 
wife  was  far  preferable  to  that  of  being  only  a  pretty 
gentlewoman,  I  concluded  to  send  you  a  spinning-wheel, 


MR.    DENHAM    DIES.  123 

which  I  hope  you  will  accept  as  a  small  token  of  my 
sincere  love  and  affection. 

"  Sister,  farewell ;  and  remember  that  modesty,  as  it 
makes  the  most  homely  virgin  amiable  and  charming, 
so  the  want  of  it  infallibly  renders  the  most  perfect 
beauty  disagreeable  and  odious.  But  when  that  bright 
est  of  female  virtues  shines,  among  other  perfections  of 
body  and  mind,  in  the  same  person,  it  makes  the  woman 
more  lovely  than  an  angel.  Excuse  this  freedom,  and 
use  the  same  with  me.  I  am,  dear  Jenny,  your  loving 

Drother, 

"B.  FRANKLIN." 

The  new  mercantile  life  on  which  Benjamin  had  en 
tered,  was  now  opening  pleasantly  before  him,  with 
cheering  prospects  of  success  in  business,  and  under  the 
happiest  personal  relations  between  himself  and  his 
patron,  when,  early  in  February,  1727,  they  were  both 
prostrated  by  sickness.  Benjamin's  disease  was  pleu 
risy,  and  it  came  very  near  proving  fatal.  So  severe  did 
it  become  that  he  gave  up  any  expectation  of  surviving 
it ;  and  his  intense  sufferings  under  the  violent  inflam 
mation  which  marks  the  disease,  produced  such  ex 
haustion  of  spirit  and  weariness  of  life,  that  he  felt,  for 
the  time,  as  he  relates,  some  degree  of  disappointment 
and  regret  when  he  found  himself  recovering,  and  re 
flected  that,  sooner  or  later,  he  must  again  undergo  a 
similar  trial. 

The  disease  which  seized  upon  Mr.  Denham  is  not 
named  ;  but  after  a  protracted  struggle  the  worthy  man 
died  under  it,  in  the  course  of  the  spring.  His  stock  of 
merchandise  passed  into  the  hands  of  his  executors ; 
and  Benjamin,  with  a  small  bequest  from  his  friend  as  a 
memorial  of  goodwill,  was  again  thrown  upon  his  own 
resources.  His  brother-in-law,  Captain  Holmes,  hap 
pening,  fortunately,  to  be  in  Philadelphia,  advised  him 


124  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN     FRANKLIN. 

to  betake  himself  again  to  his  trade  ;  and  Keimer  offered 
him  a  liberal  yearly  stipend,  if  he  would  take  charge  of 
his  printing-office,  so  that  he  might  himself  devote  his 
own  attention  wholly  to  his  business  as  a  stationer  and 
bookseller.  But,  besides  a  strong  repugnance  to  another 
engagement  with  Keimer,  Benjamin  felt  very  reluctant 
to  abandon  his  new  line  of  business.  After  making  an 
unsuccessful  effort,  however,  to  find  a  permanent  situa 
tion  as  a  clerk  in  some  mercantile  house  in  Philadelphia, 
he  accepted  Keimer's  offer. 

On  taking  his  place  in  the  printing-office  as  foreman, 
he  found  there  five  persons  —  Hugh  Meredith,  Stephen 
Potts,  a  young  Irishman  called  John,  George  Webb,  and 
David  Harry  —  of  whom  he  has  left  a  notice  substan 
tially  as  follows. 

Meredith,  u  Pennsylvanian,  bred  a  farmer,  and  now 
thirty  years  old,  was  an  honest,  sensible  man,-  fond  of 
reading,  and  too  fond  of  strong  drink.  Potts,  born  and 
bred  like  Meredith,  had  just  passed  his  minority,  pos 
sessed  uncommon  parts  and  a  lively  wit,  but  was  rather 
idle.  The  object  of  the  former  of  these  two  was  to  be 
come  a  pressman,  and  of  the  latter,  a  bookbinder ;  and 
for  the  sake  of  these  objects  they  had  engaged  at  unu 
sually  low  wages,  which  were  to  be  raised  from  time  to 
time,  as  they  should  become  more  expert  and  useful. 
John,  the  only  name  by  which  the  young  Irishman  is 
designated,  bred  to  no  regular  business,  was  an  emigrant 
whose  services  Keimer  had  purchased  for  a  term  of  four 
years,  and  was  to  make  him  a  good  pressman.  George 
Webb  was  a  runaway  student  of  Oxford  university,  in 
England,  whose  services  Keimer  had  bought  for  four 
years  also,  and  was  to  make  him  a  compositor.  David 
Harry,  a  country  lad,  was  an  indented  apprentice. 

Such  were  the  persons  who  constituted  Keimer's  force 
in  the  printing-office,  and  whom  he  had  hired  under  an 


RETURNS  TO  HIS  TRADE.  125 

express  agreement  to  teach  them  several  branches  of 
business  of  which  he  knew  little  or  nothing  himself. 

To  the  quick  and  observant  mind  of  Benjamin,  it  soon 
became  evident  that  Keimer's  leading  motive  for  offering 
him  more  than  ordinary  wages,  was  to  obtain,  in  him,  a 
person  who  could  fulfil  the  agreement  he  was  not  com 
petent  himself  to  perform,  by  teaching  his  workmen  the 
several  parts  of  the  printer's  trade  ;  and  that  when  this 
should  be  done,  as  Keimer  had  them  all  bound  to  him 
for  a  considerable  period,  he  would  then  be  able  to  carry 
on  his  business  without  Benjamin's  further  assistance. 
Nevertheless,  though  seeing  all  this,  and  the  fraudulent 
spirit  which  had  influenced  Keimer,  Benjamin  went  qui 
etly  forward,  arranged  the  printing-office,  which  was  in 
utter  confusion,  and  not  only  introduced  order  and  dis 
cipline  among  the  hands,  but  taught  them  how  to  exe 
cute  their  work  in  a  workmanlike  manner. 

The  case  of  George  Webb  was  peculiar.  That  a 
young  man  of  good  parts,  who  had  been  a  member  of 
Oxford  university,  should  be  found,  at  so  early  an  age, 
in  a  foreign  land,  and  in  the  condition  of  that  class  of 
pauper  immigrants,  who,  from  selling  their  time  and  ser 
vice  for  a  term  of  years,  to  enable  them  to  pay  the  ex 
penses  of  immigration,  are  called  redemptioners,  was  cer 
tainly  not  a  little  singular  ;  and  the  further  notice  left 
of  him  by  Franklin,  contains  a  lesson  sufficiently  inter 
esting  and  monitory  to  be  somewhat  more  fully  pre 
sented. 

From  his  own  account  of  himself  to  Franklin,  it  ap 
pears  that  he  was  about  eighteen  years  old,  and  was 
born  at  Gloucester,  in  England,  where  he  was  placed  at 
a  grammar-school  to  be  fitted  for  the  university.  He 
was  one  of  the  wits  of  the  school,  wrote  verses,  and  dis 
tinguished  himself  among  the  boys  as  a  player,  in  the 
dramatic  pieces  performed  at  the  school  exhibitions. 
11*  * 


126  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN     FRANKLIN. 

On  being  sent  to  the  university  he  remained  there  dis 
contentedly  for  about  a  year,  "  wishing  of  all  things  to 
see  London  and  become  a  player."  Upon  receiving  his 
last  quarterly  allowance,  therefore,  instead  of  paying  his 
bills  at  Oxford,  he  ran  away  to  London  ;  but  finding  him 
self  unable  to  join  the  players,  he  fell  into  bad  company, 
squandered  his  money,  pawned  his  clothes  to  procure 
food,  and  while  roaming  the  streets  one  day,  a  printed 
notice  being  handed  to  him,  offering  employment  to  all 
who  would  go  into  service  in  America,  he  caught  at  the 
proposals,  executed  the  necessary  contract,  was  imme 
diately  shipped,  and  left  England,  without  even  a  line  to 
his  friends  to  tell  them  whither  he  was  going.  "  He 
was,"  says  Franklin,  "  lively,  witty,  good-natured,  and 
a  pleasant  companion  ;  but  idle,  thoughtless,  and  impru 
dent,  to  the  last  degree." 

Such  being  the  character  of  this  youth,  it  is  easy  to 
see  that  his  whole  career,  and  the  result  of  it,  in  the  sale 
of  himself  for  four  years  to  Keimer,  were  but  the  natu 
ral  and  legitimate  consequence  of  very  sufficient  causes. 

The  young  Irishman,  John,  soon  eloped  and  disap 
peared  ;  but  with  the  other  hands  Benjamin  lived  on  very 
pleasant  terms,  inasmuch  as  they  found  Keimer  incapa 
ble  of  teaching  them  anything,  while  they  were  daily 
advancing  in  the  knowledge  of  their  business,  under  the 
instruction  and  supervision  of  Benjamin,  whom  they 
respected  accordingly.  He  was,  moreover,  adding  to 
the  number  of  his  agreeable  and  valuable  acquaintances 
among  the  residents  of  the  town ;  and  as  he  did  not 
work  on  Saturday,  which  was  his  employer's  sabbath, 
he  had  two  days  in  the  week  at  his  own  disposal,  which 
he  devoted  principally  to  reading.  His  services,  also, 
at  this  period,  were  so  very  important  to  Keimer,  that 
from  him,  too,  he  received  unusual  civility,  accompanied 
by  various  manifestations  of  great  seeming  regard ;  so 


KEIMER    PICKS  A    QUARREL.  127 

that,  as  he  relates,  nothing  now  gave  him  any  uneasiness, 
but  his  debt  to  Vernon,  which  he  had  been  too  inattentive 
to  economy  to  be  enabled  yet  to  pay.  His  creditor,  how 
ever,  had  not  yet  asked  for  it. 

There  was  no  type-foundry  at  that  time  in  either  of 
the  colonies ;  and  as  the  printing-office  became  occasion 
ally  deficient  in  sorts,  Benjamin  had  recourse  to  his  own 
ingenuity  to  supply  such  wants. 

"  I  had  seen  type  cast  at  St.  James's,  in  London,"  says 
he,  "  but  without  much  attention  to  the  manner.  How 
ever,  I  contrived  a  mould,  and  made  use  of  the  letters 
we  had  as  puncheons,  struck  the  matrices  in  lead,  and 
thus  supplied  in  a  pretty  tolerable  way  all  deficiencies. 
I  also  engraved  several  things  on  occasion;  made  the 
ink;  was  warehouse-man,  and,  in  short,  quite  a  facto 
tum" 

Notwithstanding  all  this,  however,  and  the  exemplary 
good  faith  and  success  with  which  he  had  managed  his 
department  of  Keimer's  business,  doing  for  him  what  he 
was  wholly  incompetent  himself  to  do,  that  person  be 
gan  in  due  time  to  betray  his  inherent  knavery,  and  the 
real  object  for  which  Benjamin  had  been  engaged. 
When  a  sufficient  period  had  elapsed  for  the  benefits  of 
Benjamin's  instruction  and  superintendence  to  manifest 
themselves,  and  the  workmen  in  the  office  had  come  to 
understand  their  business  so  as  to  perform  it  in  a  credit 
able  manner,  Keimer's  deportment  began  to  change ;  and 
when  he  paid  Benjamin  his  wages  at  the  end  of  his  sec 
ond  quarter,  he  gave  him  to  understand  that  he  found  his 
pay  burdensome,  and  thought  he  ought  to  consent  to 
some  abatement.  "  He  grew  by  degrees  less  civil,  put 
on  more  the  airs  of  a  master,  frequently  found  fault,  was 
captious,  and  seemed  ready  for  an  outbreak." 

Benjamin  bore  this  change  of  treatment  for  a  while,  with 
a  good  degree  of  patience,  and  the  more  so,  because  he 


128  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

generously  ascribed  it,  in  part  at  least,  to  the  irritable  state 
of  mind  produced  by  the  embarrassment  of  his  affairs. 
A  trifling  occurrence,  however,  pretty  soon  put  a  sudden 
end  to  their  connection. 

An  unusual  noise  in  the  neighborhood,  one  day,  in 
duced  Benjamin  to  put  his  head  out  of  the  window  to 
see  what  occasioned  it.  Keimer,  who  was  in  the  street, 
observing  this,  called  out  to  him  in  a  loud,  imperious  tone, 
and  with  reproachful  language,  to  mind  his  business. 
This  insult  was  rendered  particularly  galling,  by  the  fact 
that  it  was  witnessed  by  many  of  the  neighbors,  the  same 
noise  having  drawn  most  of  them  to  their  doors  and  win 
dows  ;  and  as  Keimer  went  immediately  up  into  the  of 
fice,  and  there  renewed  his  insolent  abuse,  Benjamin's 
patience  and  good  nature  were  exhausted,  and  he  retorted 
upon  him  with  great  indignation.  Keimer  gave  the  stip 
ulated  quarter's  notice  for  dissolving  their  contract,  at 
the  same  time  declaring  his  wish  that  it  could  be  short 
ened.  Benjamin  told  him  he  could  have  his  wish,  for  he 
should  instantly  quit  him ;  and,  taking  his  hat,  forthwith 
left  the  printing-office,  requesting  Meredith,  whom  he  met 
below,  to  take  care  of  such  of  his  things  as  were  in  the 
office,  and  bring  them  to  his  lodgings. 

Meredith  readily  complied  with  the  request,  for  he  had 
become  strongly  attached  to  Benjamin ;  and  when,  in  the 
evening,  he  went  to  the  lodgings  of  the  latter,  they  not 
only  talked  over  the  occurrences  of  the  day  and  the  con 
dition  of  Keimer  and  his  affairs,  but  held  also,  a  long 
conversation  upon  their  own  situations  and  prospects. 
As  that  conversation  led  to  important  results,  its  general 
tenor  is  here  stated. 

Meredith  was  extremely  desirous  that  his  instructor 
and  friend  should  continue  in  Keimer's  printing-office,  as 
long  as  he  should  himself  remain  there.  Benjamin,  it 
appears,  had  begun  to  think  seriously  of  returning  to  his 


NEW  PARTNERSHIP.  129 

native  town.  In  this  interview,  however,  Meredith  in 
duced  him  to  abandon  that  idea,  reminding  him  that 
Keimer  was  in  debt  for  every  part  of  his  establishment ; 
that  his  creditors  were  growing  very  apprehensive  about 
their  pay  ;  that  he  managed  all  his  concerns  in  the  loosest 
and  most  ruinous  manner,  sometimes  selling  things  at 
bare  cost,  when  hard  pressed  for  cash,  and  sometimes 
making  sales  on  credit,  without  even  keeping  an  account 
of  them ;  that  bankruptcy  must,  therefore,  inevitably 
overtake  him  soon,  and  thus  make  an  opening,  which 
Benjamin  might  occupy  to  certain  and  great  advantage. 

When  Benjamin  urged  his  utter  inability  to  avail  him 
self  of  the  contemplated  opening,  from  his  want  of  money, 
Meredith  expressed  the  most  confident  belief  that  his 
father,  who  entertained  a  very  favorable  opinion  of  Ben 
jamin,  would  furnish  the  requisite  money,  provided  a 
partnership  could  be  formed  between  the  two  young 
men ;  that  if  Benjamin  would  agree  to  such  an  arrange 
ment,  they  could,  by  spring,  when  his  own  engagement 
with  Keimer  would  expire,  have  a  press,  types,  and  a 
full  printing-office  equipment,  fresh  from  London,  and  be 
ready  to  cany  their  plan  promptly  into  effect;  and 
frankly  admitting  his  own  deficiencies  as  a  workman, 
as  well  as  his  ignorance  of  the  trade,  he  concluded  by 
proposing  that,  if  Benjamin  consented  to  the  project,  his 
skill  and  knowledge  of  the  business  should  be  considered 
equivalent  to  the  money  and  stock  contributed  on  his 
own  account,  and  they  would  divide  the  proceeds  of  the 
whole  concern  equally. 

Such  a  proposition  could  not  be  otherwise  than  ac 
ceptable  to  Benjamin,  and  he  at  once  declared  his  assent 
to  it.  Mr.  Meredith,  the  elder,  being  in  town,  Benjamin, 
on  conferring  with  him,  found  that  he  approved  of  the 
proposed  arrangement,  not  only  on  account  of  its  prob 
able  advantages  in  reference  to  business,  but  for  the  ad- 


130  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

ditional  reason  that  Benjamin  had  so  much  influence  with 
his  son,  as  to  have  already  induced  him  to  abstain,  for  a 
considerable  period,  from  the  perilous  practice  of  fre 
quent  tippling,  and  would,  he  hoped,  be  able  to  cure  him 
of  it  entirely,  upon  their  becoming  more  closely  connect 
ed  by  the  ties  of  a  common  interest. 

A  list  of  the  articles  needed  for  the  new  partnership 
was  drawn  up  by  Benjamin  and  delivered  to  the  elder 
Meredith,  to  be  placed  by  him  in  the  hands  of  a  merchant 
who  was  to  import  them  from  London ;  and  the  whole 
affair  was  to  be  kept  strictly  to  themselves,  until,  upon 
the  arrival  of  their  equipment,  they  should  be  ready  at 
once  to  open  shop. 

There  was  at  that  time  but  one  printing-office  in  Phil 
adelphia,  besides  Keimer's ;  and  that  one,  which  was 
Bradford's,  having  no  occasion  for  any  additional  hands, 
Benjamin  was  for  a  few  days  out  of  employment.  Just 
then,  however,  it  became  known  that  the  colonial  author 
ities  of  New  Jersey  were  about  to  issue  a  considerable 
amount  of  paper  currency,  called,  in  those  days,  "  bills  of 
credit,"  because  they  were  issued  on  the  credit  of  the 
colonial  government.  The  printing  of  the  bills  in  ques 
tion  would  be  a  very  desirable  job,  but  to  execute  them 
properly  would  require  types  and  cuts  of  several  kinds, 
which  nobody  in  either  colony,  except  Benjamin,  could 
prepare ;  and  Keimer,  anxious  to  do  the  work,  but  fear 
ing  lest  Bradford  should  get  the  advantage  of  him,  and 
secure  the  contract  for  the  job,  by  engaging  Benjamin, 
sent  the  latter  a  very  conciliatory  note,  purporting  that 
"  old  friends  should  not  part  for  a  few  words,  the  effect 
of  sudden  passion,"  and  earnestly  desiring  him  to  come 
back  to  his  former  situation. 

To  this  request  Benjamin  yielded,  chiefly  through  the 
persuasion  of  Meredith,  who  urged  the  benefit  which 
would  accrue  to  himself  from  the  instruction  and  super- 


JERSEY    PAPER    MONEY.  131 

vision  of  his  friend  and  teacher;  and  on  returning,  he 
found  Keimer  disposed  to  be  very  civil,  and  to  render  his 
situation  in  all  respects  pleasant. 

To  crown  this  reconciliation,  and  fill  for  the  time,  the 
measure  of  Keimer's  content,  he  obtained  the  Jersey 
contract,  and  for  the  neater  and  more  satisfactory  execu 
tion  of  it,  Benjamin  "  contrived,"  as  he  says,  "  a  copper 
plate  press,  the  first  that  had  been  seen  in  the  country, 
and  cut  several  ornaments  and  checks  for  the  bills."  As 
the  work  was  to  be  performed  at  Burlington,  N.  J.,  he 
went  thither  with  Keimer,  and  completed  the  job  in  the 
most  acceptable  manner  ;  the  latter  receiving  for  it  a  sum 
considerable  enough  to  patch  up  his  credit,  and  enable 
him  to  continue  his  business  for  some  time  longer. 

This  job,  in  its  general  and  permanent  results,  how 
ever,  was  far  more  advantageous  to  Benjamin,  than  to  his 
employer.  While  at  Burlington,  he  became  personally 
acquainted  with  a  considerable  number  of  the  leading 
men  of  that  colony.  The  provincial  assembly,  then  sit 
ting,  raised  a  committee  to  superintend  the  printing  of 
these  bills,  and  especially  to  see  that  no  more  should  be 
struck  off  than  the  number  authorized  by  law.  For  the 
satisfactory  discharge  of  this  duty,  it  was  deemed  proper 
that  some  one  of  the  committee  should  be  in  constant  at 
tendance  upon  the  press,  and  he  was  usually  accompa 
nied  by  one  or  more  of  his  friends.  The  public  station 
and  character  of  these  men,  the  nature  of  the  business 
in  hand,  and  the  topics  suggested  by  these  circumstances, 
gave  occasion  for  much  pleasant  and  profitable  conversa 
tion,  in  which  Benjamin,  being  far  better  qualified  than 
Keimer  to  participate,  received  the  chief  attention  of 
their  visiters ;  and  so  favorable  was  the  impression,  which 
his  intelligence,  good  sense,  and  general  deportment,  made 
upon  them,  that  he  soon  began  to  receive  invitations  to 
their  houses ;  and  while  hie  companion  was  comparative- 


132  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

ly  neglected,  he  became  himself  the  object  of  many  civil 
ities,  which  not  only  ripened  into  various  lasting  personal 
friendships,  but  helped  to  prepare  the  way  for  that  rapid 
development  of  public  esteem  and  confidence,  which,  not 
very  long  after,  became  so  universal  and  so  conspicuous. 

Of  the  personal  friends,  whom  his  stay  of  not  quite 
three  months  in  Burlington,  on  this  occasion,  enabled  him 
to  count  among  his  acquisitions,  he  has  mentioned  the 
names  of  several.  Among  them,  besides  various  mem 
bers  of  the  Assembly,  with  whom  his  employment  brought 
him  into  contact,  were  also  the  provincial  secretary  Sam 
uel  Bustill,  one  of  the  provincial  judges  by  the  name  of 
Allen,  and  Isaac  Ducrow  the  surveyor-general.  "  The  last 
named  person,"  says  Franklin,  "  was  a  shrewd,  sagacious 
old  man,  who  told  me  that  he  began  for  himself,  when 
young,  by  wheeling  clay  for  the  brick-makers  ;  learned 
to  write  after  he  was  of  age  ;  carried  the  chain  for  sur 
veyors,  who  taught  him  surveying ;  and  he  had  now,  by 
his  industry,  acquired  a  good  estate."  Franklin  adds 
that,  without  having  said  a  word  in  relation  to  his  own 
plans,  Ducrow  remarked  to  him  :  "  I  foresee  that  you 
will  soon  work  this  man  [Keimer]  out  of  his  business, 
and  make  a  fortune  in  it,  at  Philadelphia." 

Such  were  some  of  the  fruits,  which  the  good  sense 
and  discretion,  the  information  which  had  been  so  assid 
uously  accumulated,  and  the  conciliating  manners  of  a 
young  man  but  twenty-one  years  of  age,  enabled  him  to 
gather,  in  less  than  three  months,  in  a  place  where  he 
was  previously  a  stranger,  and  while  working  as  a  trades- 


ENTRANCE    UPON    MANHOOD.  133 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

HIS      ENTRANCE     UPON     MANHOOD HIS     PRINCIPLES     AND 

CHARACTER NEW    ASSOCIATIONS. 

FRANKLIN  had  now  reached  a  stage  in  the  journey  of  life 
of  deeper  interest,  and  involving  cares  of  a  wider  range, 
and  graver  character  than  any  he  had  yet  encountered. 
The  laws  of  the  land,  taking  their  rule  from  the  statutes 
of  nature,  would  no  longer  look  upon  him  as  under  the 
guardianship  or  control  of  others.  Thenceforward  they 
would  treat  him  as  a  man  of  full  age,  himself  alone  ame 
nable  for  his  conduct  in  whatever  relations  he  might  as 
sume  ;  and  he  was  about  to  embark  in  business,  not  as  a 
servant  working  for  fixed  wages,  and  comparatively  ex 
empt  from  the  anxieties  of  forethought  and  accountabil 
ity,  but  as  himself  a  master  and  the  employer  of  others, 
taking  his  place  in  the  community  as  one  of  its  members, 
with  the  serious  responsibilities  of  life  pressing  directly 
upon  him. 

In  his  autobiography,  when,  long  years  after,  he  is 
looking  back  upon  this  important  stage  in  his  career,  he 
presents  an  outline  of  his  own  character  so  far  as  it  was 
then  developed,  and  of  the  principles  and  opinions,  with 
which  he  was  about  to  commence  manhood,  conduct  his 
private  affairs,  and  perform  his  part  as  a  member  of  so 
ciety.  This  general  estimate  of  himself,  and  of  his  moral 
condition,  with  the  glance  he  gives  at  the  history  of  his 
opinions  and  way  of  thinking  on  moral  and  religious  sub- 

12 


134  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

jects,  is  instructive  as  showing  how  early  and  to  what  an 
unusual  degree  he  had  cultivated  the  habit  of  self  ex 
amination,  and  how  assiduously  he  had  labored  to  settle 
his  views  on  points  of  such  weighty  concern  to  every  per 
son,  who  has  not  forgotten  that  he  is  an  accountable 
being;  and  as  showing,  also,  notwithstanding  grave  er 
rors  and  defects,  how  sincerely  he  sought  for  truth,  and 
aimed  to  act  toward  his  fellow-men,  according  to  the 
requirements  of  justice,  and  the  dictates  of  benevo 
lence. 

This  account  of  himself  will  be  best  given  chiefly  in 
his  own  words,  not  merely  for  the  sake  of  accuracy  arid 
the  livelier  interest  they  will  impart  to  the  subject,  but 
also  for  the  sake  of  justice;  inasmuch  as  the  frank  hones 
ty  with  which  it  is  rendered,  and  his  faults  are  recorded, 
is  not  only  praiseworthy  in  itself,  but  formed  one  of  the 
most  salient  and  beautiful  features  of  his  character;  and 
if  candidly  considered  in  connection  with  the  tone  of 
confession  and  self-censure  which  pervades  the  statement, 
will,  it  is  believed,  satisfy  every  fair-minded  reader,  that 
his  errors  of  opinion  were  not  the  result  of  a  perverse 
and  intractable  temper,  or  unteachable  spirit,  but  the  er 
rors  of  an  ingenuous  youth,  whose  consciousness  of  men 
tal  power  had  been  naturally  exalted  to  over-confidence, 
by  his  obvious  superiority  to  most  of  those  with  whom 
he  had  yet  had  an  opportunity  to  measure  himself;  and 
that  in  the  midst  of  mistakes  he  did  not  obstinately  shut 
his  mind  against  more  enlightened  convictions,  but  was 
ready  cheerfully  to  receive  truth,  as  well  as  eager  to  find 
it. 

The  exhibition,  even  of  the  errors,  whether  of  opinion 
or  conduct,  of  a  man  of  so  honest  and  frank  a  spirit,  can 
hardly  fail  to  be  profitable,  both  for  warning  and  imita 
tion  ;  especially,  when,  as  in  this  instance,  subsequent  and 
wider  observation  of  human  life,  and  a  richer  experience, 


OPINIONS.  135 

led  him,  on  fuller  reflection  and  in  the  maturity  of  his 
faculties,  to  detect  such  errors  and  renounce  them. 

"  Before  I  enter  upon  my  public  appearance  in  busi 
ness,"  says  he  to  his  son,  to  whom  his  narrative  is  ad 
dressed,  "  it  may  be  well  to  let  you  know  the  then  state 
of  my  mind,  with  regard  to  my  principles  and  morals, 
that  you  may  see  how  far  they  influenced  the  future 
events  of  my  life.  My  parents  had  early  given  me  re 
ligious  impressions,  and  brought  me  through  my  child 
hood  piously,  in  the  dissenting  way.  But  I  was  scarce 
fifteen,  when  after  doubting  by  turns  several  points  as  I 
found  them  disputed  in  the  different  books  I  read,  I  be 
gan  to  doubt  of  the  Revelation  itself.  Some  books 
against  deism  fell  into  my  hands,  said  to  be  the  substance 
of  sermons  which  had  been  preached  at  Boyle's  lectures. 
It  happened  that  they  wrought  an  effect  on  me,  quite 
contrary  to  what  was  intended  by  them.  For  the  argu 
ments  of  the  deists,  which  were  quoted  to  be  refuted,  ap 
peared  to  me  much  stronger  than  the  refutations.  In 
short  I  soon  became  a  thorough  deist.  My  arguments 
perverted  some  others,  particularly  Collins  and  Ralph; 
but  each  of  these  having  wronged  me  greatly,  without 
the  least  compunction,  and  recollecting  Keith's  conduct 
toward  me  [he  was  another  freethinker],  and  my  own 
toward  Vernon  and  Miss  Read,  which  at  times  gave  me 
great  [mental]  trouble  —  I  began  to  suspect  that  this  doc 
trine,  though  it  might  be  true,  was  not  very  useful." 

He  then  adverts  to  the  pamphlet,  which,  as  heretofore 
noticed,  he  wrote  while  working  as  a  journeyman  print 
er  in  London.  In  that  pamphlet,  taking  for  his  sole 
premises  God's  infinite  wisdom,  goodness,  and  power, 
but  wholly  overlooking  man's  free  agency,  he  had  never 
theless  extended  his  argument,  not  only  to  the  works  of 
creation  and  the  ordinances  of  Providence,  but  to  all  hu 
man  action  also ;  that  is,  though  taking  for  his  premises 


136  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

the  attributes  of  the  Deity  only,  yet  embracing  in  his  ar 
gument  not  only  what  the  Deity  does,  but  what  man  does 
also,  he  drew  the  sweeping  conclusion  that  there  can  not 
possibly  be  anything  wrong  in  the  world  ;  that  virtue  and 
vice  are  only  empty  names,  having  no  real  existence;  and 
that,  not  merely  in  the  works  and  government  of  God, 
but  in  human  conduct  also,  "whatever  is,  is  right." 

Such  was  the  scope  of  that  crude  performance.  Of 
its  fallacies,  however,  he  soon  became  aware.  Even  be 
fore  commencing  business  with  Meredith,  in  less  than 
two  years  after  it  was  written,  its  acuteness  and  cogency 
had,  as  he  freely  confesses,  dwindled  exceedingly  in  his 
own  eyes ;  and  after  a  passing  remark  upon  the  unsatis 
factory  nature  of  all  metaphysical  reasoning  on  such 
topics,  he  proceeds  as  follows  : — 

"  I  grew  convinced  that  truth,  sincerity,  and  integrity, 
in  dealings  between  man  and  man,  were  of  the  utmost 
importance  to  the  felicity  of  life ;  and  I  framed  written 
resolutions,  which  still  remain  in  my  journal-book,  to 
practise  them  ever  while  I  lived.  Revelation  had,  indeed, 
no  weight  with  me,  as  such ;  but  I  entertained  an  opinion 
that,  although  certain  actions  might  not  be  bad,  because 
they  were  forbidden  by  it,  or  good,  because  it  command 
ed  them,  yet  probably  those  actions  might  be  forbidden 
because  they  were  bad  for  us,  or  commanded  because 
they  were  beneficial  to  us,  in  their  own  nature,  all  cir 
cumstances  considered." 

The  sentiment  avowed  in  the  forepart  of  the  passage 
just  cited,  is  worthy  of  all  commendation,  and  the  resolu 
tions  mentioned  were  well  fulfilled  through  a  long  and 
honorable  life.  And  the  view,  expressed  in  the  latter 
portion  of  the  same  passage,  of  the  ground  of  moral  obli 
gation,  however  defective  in  itself,  is  clearly  better  than 
the  doctrine  of  the  pamphlet ;  for  it  admits  the  reality  of 
the  distinction  between  right  and  wrong,  as  well  as  the 


MORALS RELIGIOUS    CONTROVERSY.  137 

existence  of  good  and  evil ;  and  by  its  influence,  as  he 
believed,  was  he  preserved  in  the  main  from  such  gross 
immorality  as  might  otherwise  have  resulted  from  the 
want  of  fixed  religious  principle,  during  the  perilous 
season  of  youth,  passed  so  much  among  strangers  as  to 
feel  little  restraint  from  the  observation  and  opinion  of 
others.  The  remark  with  which,  by  way  of  inference, 
he  closes  the  review  of  himself,  as  he  was  when  youth 
merged  in  manhood,  will,  when  compared  with  the  es 
teem  in  which  he  was  held  by  the  community  in  which 
he  lived,  be  allowed  to  be  sufficiently  modest.  "  I  had, 
therefore,"  says  he,  "  a  tolerable  character  to  begin  the 
world  with  :  I  valued  it  properly,  and  I  determined  to 
preserve  it." 

The  passage  in  the  first  of  the  extracts  just  presented, 
in  which  Franklin  alludes  to  the  effect  on  his  mind  pro 
duced  by  reading  certain  sermons  on  deism,  and  by  the 
manner  in  which  the  argument  was  conducted,  can  not 
fail  to  suggest  to  every  considerate  mind  some  grave 
reflections.  Doubtless  the  cause  of  revealed  truth  has 
been  much  aided  by  argument,  when  conducted  with 
ability  and  learning,  and  in  a  candid  and  discreet  spirit ; 
and  a  full  and  lucid  exhibition  of  the  historical,  as  well 
as  the  intrinsic,  evidences  of  the  genuineness  and  au 
thenticity  of  the  sacred  writings,  is  not  only  due  to  the 
momentous  importance  of  the  subject,  but  has  been 
among  the  most  efficient  means  of  establishing  their 
authority  and  spreading  their  doctrines.  Nevertheless, 
before  a  man  presents  himself  to  the  world  as  a  cham 
pion  of  such  a  cause,  it  becomes  him  well  to  consider 
what  are  his  qualifications  for  the  contest.  The  Scrip 
tures  themselves  recognise  the  fact,  that  there  is  some 
times  a  zeal  which  is  not  according  to  knowledge ;  and 
the  history  of  Christianity,  especially  the  controversial 
portion  of  it,  shows  but  top  plainly  that  some  who  have 


138  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

written  in  its  defence,  would  have  done  more  wisely  if 
they  had  left  that  defence  to  the  arguments  presented 
by  the  beauty  of  a  Christian  life,  and  the  persuasion  of 
a  Christian  example.  A  sedate  and  earnest  mind,  filled 
with  the  convictions  of  divine  truth  —  a  pious  heart, 
warmed  with  sympathizing  affections,  and  upheld  by 
a  faith  and  hope  that  can  sustain  adversity  with  cheer 
ful  resignation,  and  meet  prosperity  with  a  grateful  and 
unselfish  joy,  as  supplying  the  means,  not  of  greater 
indulgence,  but  of  a  wider  usefulness,  and  beaming  over 
the  whole  pathway  of  life  —  have  done  more  than  all  the 
volumes  of  polemics  to  shut  the  mouth  of  cavil,  extend 
the  influence  of  Christianity,  and  multiply  its  real  fol 
lowers. 

Not  long  after  the  return  of  the  two  printers  from 
Burlington  to  Philadelphia,  the  types  and  other  furni 
ture  for  the  new  partnership  arrived  from  London  ;  and 
both  Meredith  and  Franklin  were  fortunate  enough 
quietly  to  close  their  respective  terms  of  service  with 
Keimer,  and  leave  him  in  peace,  before  he  knew  any 
thing  of  their  new  arrangements.  They  hired  a  house 
near  the  market,  at  the  moderate  rent  of  twenty-four 
pounds  ;  and  to  assist  in  paying  it,  as  well  as  to  furnish 
themselves  with  convenient  board  and  lodging,  they  took 
as  an  under-tenant  Thomas  Godfrey,  with  his  family. 

Hardly  had  they  set  up  their  press,  arranged  their 
cases,  and  got  ready  for  work,  when  George  House,  one 
of  Franklin's  acquaintances,  introduced  a  man  from  the 
country,  whom  he  had  just  met  in  the  street,  inquiring 
for  a  printer  to  do  a  small  job  for  him.  The  new  part 
ners  having  exhausted  their  ready  money  in  the  multifa 
rious  details  of  preparation,  this  first  piece  of  work,  of 
fering  itself  so  opportunely  and  boding  so  well,  was  pe 
culiarly  gratifying.  Indeed,  so  lively  was  the  impression 
it  made,  that  in  recurring  to  it  long  after,  Franklin  de- 


THE    FIRST    CROWN A    CROAKER.  139 

clares  that  "  this  countryman's  five  shillings,  being  the 
first-fruits,  and  coming  so  seasonably,  gave  him  more 
pleasure  than  any  crown  he  had  since  earned ;  and  the 
gratitude  he  felt  toward  George  House,  had  made  him 
often  more  ready  than  he  would  otherwise,  perhaps,  have 
been,  to  assist  young  beginners." 

It  must  surely  be  gratifying  to  the  reader,  to  observe 
how  the  incidents  of  life,  even  such  as  might  usually  be 
deemed  unimportant,  touched  the  feelings  of  such  a  man 
as  Franklin,  and  instilled  their  lessons.  It  is  in  this  way 
that  common  occurrences  become  instructive,  and  the 
mind  is  enriched  and  enlarged  by  experience. 

There  was,  it  seems,  in  Philadelphia  (and  rarely  is 
there  to  be  found  a  neighborhood  free  from  a  similar 
pest),  one  of  those  unhappy  persons  called  croakers;  who 
never  see  the  sun ;  whose  lives  pass  under  a  continual 
cloud  ;  who  can  discern  in  every  new  enterprise  nothing 
but  a  new  prognostic  of  evil ;  who  speak  only  to  proph 
esy  disaster;  and  though  every  prediction  be  regularly 
confuted  by  results,  whose  faith  in  their  own  inspiration, 
unaffected  alike  by  arguments  and  events,  remains  stead 
fast  and  immoveable. 

This  Philadelphia  croaker  is  described  as  "  a  person 
of  note,  an  elderly  man,  with  a  wise  look,  and  a  very 
grave  manner  of  speaking ;"  and  while  yet  personally 
unknown  to  Franklin,  seeing  him  one  day  at  his  door, 
stopped,  and  asked  if  he  was  the  young  man  who  had 
recently  opened  a  new  printing-office.  "  Being  an 
swered  in  the  affirmative,"  says  Franklin,  "  he  said  he 
was  sorry  for  me,  because  it  was  an  expensive  underta 
king,  and  the  expense  would  be  lost ;  for  Philadelphia 
was  a  sinking  place  ;  half  the  people  already  bankrupts, 
or  nearly  so ;  all  appearances  to  the  contrary,  such  as 
new  buildings  and  the  rise  of  rents,  being  to  his  certain 
knowledge,  fallacious  ;  for  they  were,  in  fact,  the  very 


140  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

tilings  that  would  ruin  us  ;"  and  he  proceeded  with  such 
a  specification  of  present  and  coming  calamities,  as 
served  to  depress,  for  the  moment,  even  the  manly  hope 
ful  spirit  and  good  sense  of  young  Franklin,  who,  had 
this  woful  recital  been  made  to  him  before  he  embarked 
with  Meredith,  would  probably,  as  he  relates  himself, 
have  been  deterred  from  the  undertaking. 

The  "  certain  knowledge"  of  this  croaker,  proved, 
however,  as  usual  in  such  cases,  far  less  certain  than  his 
folly ;  and  the  faithfulness  of  Providence,  as  well  as  the 
wisdom  of  those  who  trust  in  it,  was  abundantly  vindi 
cated  by  the  result.  "  This  person,"  as  Franklin  adds, 
"  continued  to  live  in  this  decaying  place,  and  to  declaim 
in  the  same  strain,  refusing  for  many  years  to  buy  a  house 
there,  because  all  was  going  to  destruction  ;  and  at  last 
I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  him  give  five  times  as  much 
for  one,  as  he  might  have  bought  it  for,  when  he  first  be 
gan  croaking." 

While  young  Franklin  was  thus  employed  in  his  trade, 
and  was  making  his  way  into  business,  he  did  not  by  any 
means  neglect  the  improvement  of  his  mind  and  his  ad 
vancement  in  knowledge.  The  number  of  his  acquaint 
ances  in  Philadelphia  had  also  become  considerably  ex 
tended,  and  in  the  course  of  the  autumn  of  1727,  he  in 
duced  most  of  the  more  intelligent  among  them,  to  or 
ganize  themselves  as  a  club  for  mutual  improvement, 
under  the  name  of  the  "  Junto,"  to  meet  every  Friday 
evening. 

The  plan  and  regulations  of  this  club  were  digested 
and  drawn  up  by  Franklin.  Each  member  in  turn  was 
required  to  present  to  the  club  one  or  more  questions  "on 
any  point  of  morals,  politics,  or  natural  philosophy,"  to 
be  debated  at  their  weekly  meetings ;  and  once  in  every 
three  months  each  was  also  to  produce  a  more  elaborate 
essay,  digested  and  written  by  himself,  on  any  subject  he 


THE    JUNTO.  141 

might  choose.  The  debates,  at  the  weekly  meetings, 
were  to  be  "conducted  in  a  sincere  spirit  of  inquiry  af 
ter  truth,  without  fondness  for  dispute,  or  desire  of  vic 
tory  ;"  and  the  better  to  preserve  their  temper,  candor, 
and  decorum,  "  all  expressions  of  positiveness  of  opin 
ion,  and  all  direct  contradiction,"  were,  after  a  little  ex 
perience  in  the  matter,  "  made  contraband,  and  prohib 
ited  under  small  pecuniary  penalties." 

To  show  how  much  well-directed  thought  was  be 
stowed  upon  the  principles,  on  which  this  club  was  or 
ganized  and  conducted,  and  to  account  for  the  eminent 
usefulness  it  attained  and  its  consequent  remarkable  du 
ration,  some  of  its  regulations  and  modes  of  proceeding 
are  here  presented  :  they  will,  moreover,  furnish  valua 
ble  hints  to  others  disposed  to  avail  themselves  of  similar 
means  of  mental  and  moral  improvement,  as  well  as  help 
to  illustrate  the  development  and  tendencies  at  that  time, 
of  Franklin's  mind,  from  which  they  chiefly  proceeded. 

A  permanent  list  of  queries  was  prepared,  of  which 
every  member  was  bound  to  keep  by  him  a  copy;  and  at 
each  meeting  it  was  the  president's  first  duty,  on  taking 
the  chair,  to  put  the  following  question,  to  be  considered 
as  addressed  to  each  member  present :  "  Have  you  read 
over  these  queries  this  morning,  in  order  to  consider 
what  you  might  have  to  offer  to  the  Junto,  touching  any 
one  of  them?"  Whereupon  the  several  members  made 
answer,  in  proper  order,  according  to  the  matter  they 
had  for  remark. 

To  show  the  range  and  aim  of  these  standing  queries, 
the  substance  of  a  number  of  them  may  be  stated  as  fol 
lows  :  the  first  one  inquired  if  any  member  had  found,  in 
the  book  he  had  last  read,  in  any  department  of  science, 
literature,  or  the  mechanic  arts,  anything  of  such  claim 
to  attention,  that  it  would  be  useful  to  lay  it  before  the 
club.  Another  query  asked  if  any  member  knew  of 


142  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

any  recent  act  of  any  citizen,  marked  by  such  merit  as 
to  deserve  especial  praise  and  imitation,  or  of  any  error 
or  misconduct,  against  which  the  members  should  be 
warned.  Others  inquired  if  any  particularly  unhappy  ef 
fects  of  intemperance,  passion,  or  other  vice  or  folly,  had 
been  recently  observed ;  or  any  marked  and  happy  effects 
of  temperance,  prudence,  moderation,  or  other  virtue;  if 
any  deserving  stranger  had  recently  come  to  the  city,  to 
whom  the  club  could  render  any  useful  aid;  if  any  mem 
ber  desired  the  friendship  of  some  person,  which  one  of 
the  club  could  with  propriety  procure  for  him,  or  if  he 
could  be  aided  by  them  in  any  other  honorable  way ;  if 
there  was  any  meritorious  young  man  just  starting  in 
business,  to  whom  they  could  render  any  assistance ;  if 
any  member  had  recently  received  important  benefits 
from  some  person  not  present;  if  any  member  was  en 
gaged  in  any  important  undertaking,  in  which  he  could 
be  aided  by  the  counsel  and  information  of  the  club,  or 
any  of  its  associates ;  if  any  idea,  or  plan,  had  recently 
occurred  to  any  member,  which  might  be  rendered  use 
ful  to  any  class  of  people,  to  their  own  community,  or  to 
men  generally;  if  any  special  defect,  or  mischief,  had  been 
recently  perceived  in  any  of  the  laws  of  the  province,  and 
if  any  effectual  remedy  could  be  pointed  out,  so  as  to 
make  it  expedient  to  lay  the  matter  before  the  provincial 
assembly ;  or  if  any  recent  encroachment  upon  the 
rights  and  liberties  of  the  people  had  been  detected. 

These  inquiries,  it  will  be  seen,  appertain  to  the  social 
relations  of  men,  and  bear  directly  upon  their  social  du 
ties  ;  and  their  tendency  to  promote  the  habitual  discharge 
of  those  duties,  by  bringing  them  regularly  forward,  ev 
ery  week,  for  serious  acknowledgment  and  consideration, 
seems  too  palpable  to  be  disputed.  The  faithful  obser 
vance  of  the  principles  of  conduct  involved  in  them,  was 
well  calculated  to  encourage  habits  of  self-examination, 


WELL-DEVISED    REGULATIONS.  143 

and  self-discipline,  on  the  part  of  individuals,  and  to  foster 
mutual  goodwill,  not  only  among  the  associates  of  the 
Junto,  but  toward  men  generally;  and  by  calling  into 
exercise  a  more  vigilant  public  spirit,  to  form  more  val 
uable  members  of  the  commonwealth. 

But  these  standing  queries,  which  formed  so  peculiar 
and  remarkable  a  feature  of  this  club,  were  designed,  not 
as  doubtful  points  to  be  debated,  but  as  modes  of  present 
ing  to  the  attention  of  the  members,  just  occasions  for  the 
discharge  of  acknowledged  obligations.  They  were  calls 
to  duty,  not  subjects  for  dispute ;  and  belonged  to  that 
part  of  the  organization  intended  for  the  moral  improve 
ment  of  the  associates  of  the  Junto.  Their  mental  im 
provement  and  advancement  in  useful  knowledge,  they 
sought  in  the  discussion  of  other  questions  of  a  different 
nature,  and  in  the  investigations  requisite  to  render  such 
discussion  profitable. 

From  the  few  published  specimens  of  this  class  of 
questions,  it  would  seem  that  the  forms  and  institutions 
of  government,  the  rights  of  the  people,  the  principles  of 
political  economy,  the  permanent  interests  of  the  coun 
try,  the  legislation  of  the  British  government  relating  to 
the  colonies,  and  other  points  of  general  politics,  stood 
first  in  favor,  and  the  various  departments  of  natural 
philosophy  next,  as  supplying  subjects  for  discussion; 
though  points  of  practical  morality  and  the  subtleties  of 
metaphysical  speculation  were  occasionally  interspersed. 
Viewed  collectively,  however,  they  show  that  the  dis 
cussions  of  the  Junto  took  a  wide  and  elevated  range ; 
and  the  research  they  called  for,  together  with  the  exer 
cise  of  the  best  powers  of  the  mind  in  arranging  mate 
rials  and  framing  arguments,  tended  to  foster  a  taste 
for  earnest  study,  well  suited  to  exert  a  wholesome  influ 
ence  on  personal  character,  inspire  manly  views  of  duty, 
and  give  a  higher  value  to  life. 


144  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN     FRANKLIN. 

The  terms  of  admission  to  this  club  were  as  peculiar 
as  its  standing  queries.  These,  like  those,  turned  exclu 
sively  on  the  social  relations.  Instead  of  demanding 
money  in  the  form  of  initiation  fees,  they  required  of  the 
applicant  for  admission  a  simple  declaration  that  he  har 
bored  no  inimical  feeling  toward  any  existing  member  ; 
that  he  cherished  a  sentiment  of  goodwill  toward  his  fel 
low-men  generally,  irrespective  of  sect  or  party;  that  no 
man  ought  to  be  harmed  on  account  of  his  opinions 
merely ;  and  that  he  held  truth  in  esteem  for  its  own  sake 
and  would  endeavor  to  seek  it,  receive  it,  and  impart  it, 
in  a  spirit  of  candor  and  impartiality. 

Such  were  the  origin,  scope,  and  spirit  of  an  associa 
tion,  which  acquired  a  high  local  reputation  in  its  day, 
proved  exceedingly  useful  to  its  members,  exerted  a  val 
uable  influence  in  the  community,  and  even  upon  the  pub 
lic  affairs  of  the  province  of  Pennsylvania ;  and  after  a 
prosperous  existence  of  forty  years,  was  selected  as  the 
healthy  and  vigorous  stock,  planted  and  tended  by  Frank 
lin,  on  which,  chiefly  by  the  instrumentality  of  the  same 
assiduous  and  enlightened  cultivator,  was  engrafted  the 
American  Philosophical  Society,  of  which  also  he  was  the 
first  president,  and  which  has  borne  still  more  abundant 
fruit,  the  volumes  of  its  transactions  having  been  among 
the  most  efficient  aids  to  the  progress  of  science  in  this 
country. 


USEFULNESS  OF  THE  JUNTO.  145 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

USEFULNESS  OF  THE    JUNTO ORIGINAL    MEMBERS BUSI 
NESS GROWTH    IN    PUBLIC    ESTEEM OPINIONS. 

THE  account  of  the  Junto  given  in  the  preceding  chap 
ter,  has  been  made  somewhat  full,  not  merely  from  a  be 
lief  that  it  would  be  both  gratifying  and  useful,  but  main 
ly  because  it  was  one  of  the  early  works  of  Franklin, 
and  in  truth,  if  duly  considered  in  its  various  bearings, 
the  most  important  work  he  had  yet  performed.  Speak 
ing  of  it  himself,  in  his  autobiography,  he  pronounces 
it,  and  with  good  reason,  "the  best  school  of  philosophy, 
morals,  and  politics,  then  existing  in  the  province ;"  and 
he  wisely  ranks  among  its  benefits,  not  only  the  research 
and  taste  for  solid  studies,  which  it  promoted,  but  also 
the  "better  habits  of  conversation,"  which  resulted  from 
compliance  with  regulations  requiring  mutual  deference, 
courtesy,  and  candor,  and  forbidding  all  direct  contradic 
tion  and  positiveness  of  assertion,  in  conversational  dis 
cussion,  as  well  as  in  more  formal  debate — habits  to 
which,  as  the  chief  cause,  he  justly  ascribes  the  remark 
able  success  and  duration  of  the  club. 

Nor  was  this  all.  The  most  striking  peculiarities  of  that 
association,  were  but  the  embodiment  of  some  of  the  most 
marked  characteristics  of  the  mind  and  modes  of  think 
ing  from  which  they  proceeded  ;  and  the  pertinence  of  the 
sketch  given,  as  well  as  its  intrinsic  interest,  in  this  connec 
tion,  is  further  seen  in  the  conclusive  evidence  it  furnishes, 
13 


146  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

of  the  manly  studies  which  must  even  then  have  occu 
pied  most  of  Franklin's  time  not  demanded  by  his  busi 
ness  ;  thus  showing  how  early  and  industriously  he  be 
gan  to  prepare  himself  for  those  philosophical  inquiries, 
in  which  he  attained  such  distinction,  and  to  accumulate 
those  ample  stores  of  political  knowledge,  and  enter  up 
on  that  training  of  himself  in  the  principles  of  civil  lib 
erty  and  just  government,  which  enabled  him  to  render, 
during  almost  half  a  century,  such  important  service  to 
his  country. 

Of  such  an  association,  which  not  only  proved  emi 
nently  successful  in  promoting  its  direct  objects,  but  ex 
erted  an  important  influence  in  various  ways,  on  the  sub 
sequent  career  of  its  chief  founder,  it  will  be  gratifying 
to  know  something  of  his  original  associates,  and  especial 
ly  to  see  from  what  occupations,  himself  a  young  trades 
man  working  daily  for  his  daily  bread,  he  obtained  his  ear 
liest  coadjutors, in  this  honorable  endeavor  to  enlarge  their 
knowledge,  and  enhance  their  individual  value  and  means 
of  usefulness.  For  this  purpose  we  copy  Franklin's  own 
rapid  and  graphic  sketch  of  the  first  members  of  the  club. 

The  first  one  named  was  Joseph  Breintnall,  "  a  copier 
of  deeds  for  the  scriveners ;  a  good-natured,  friendly, 
middle-aged  man;  a  great  lover  of  poetry,  reading  all 
he  could  meet  with,  and  writing  some  that  was  tolerable; 
very  ingenious  in  making  little  knick-knacks,  and  of  sen 
sible  conversation." 

Next  was  Thomas  Godfrey,  "  a  self-taught  mathema 
tician,  great  in  his  way,  and  afterward  inventor  of  what 
is  now  called  Hartley's  Quadrant.  But  he  knew  little 
out  of  his  way,  and  was  not  a  pleasing  companion ;  as, 
like  most  great  mathematicians  I  have  met  with,  he  ex 
pected  universal  precision  in  everything  said,  or  was  for 
ever  denying  or  distinguishing  upon  trifles,  to  the  disturb 
ance  of  all  conversation.  He  soon  left  us." 


JUNTO-MEN MORE    CUSTOM.  147 

Another  was  Nicholas  Scull,  "  a  surveyor,  afterward 
surveyor-general ;  who  loved  books,  and  sometimes  made 
a  few  verses." 

Another  was  William  Parsons,  "  bred  a  shoemaker, 
but  loving  reading,  had  acquired  a  considerable  share  of 
mathematics,  which  he  first  studied  with  a  view  to  astrol 
ogy,  and  afterward  laughed  at  it.  He  also  became  sur 
veyor-general.' 

Another  was  William  Maugridge,  "  a  joiner,  but  a  most 
exquisite  mechanic,  and  a  solid  sensible  man." 

Hugh  Meredith,  Stephen  Potts,  and  George  Webb, 
were  also  members,  but  with  them  the  reader  is  already 
acquainted. 

Next  was  Robert  Grace,  "  a  young  gentleman  of  some 
fortune,  generous,  lively,  and  witty ;  a  lover  of  punning 
and  of  his  friends." 

The  last  one  named  was  William  Coleman,  "  then  a 
merchant's  clerk,"  says  Franklin,  "  about  my  own  age, 
who  had  the  coolest,  clearest  head,  the  best  heart,  and 
the  exactest  morals,  of  almost  any  man  I  ever  met  with. 
He  became  afterward  a  merchant  of  great  note,  and  one 
of  our  provincial  judges.  Our  fiiendship  continued  with 
out  interruption,  to  his  death,  upward  of  forty  years." 

To  this  brief  catalogue  of  the  first  members  of  the  Jun 
to,  time  added,  at  intervals,  not  a  few  of  the  ornaments  of 
Philadelphia,  and  among  them,  some  names,  besides  that 
of  Franklin,  of  a  wide  and  lasting  celebrity. 

Among  the  extraneous  and  collateral  benefits  which 
soon  began  to  accrue  to  the  principal  founder  of  this 
club,  from  his  connection  with  it,  was  an  increase  of  busi 
ness  for  the  young  firm  of  Meredith  and  Franklin.  In 
deed,  it  was  one  of  the  specified  objects  of  the  club, 
though  a  subordinate  one,  and  a  recognised  duty  of  the 
members,  to  promote  the  rightful  private  interests  of  each 
other,  whenever  opportunity  should  enable  them  to  do  so, 


148  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

by  just  and  honorable  means.  In  conformity  with  this 
obligation,  Joseph  Brientnall,  who  was  a  Quaker,  pro 
cured  for  the  new  partnership  the  printing  of  forty  sheets 
of  a  History  of  the  Quakers,  the  other  sheets  having 
been  engaged  to  Keimer. 

The  rate  of  pay  for  this  job,  however,  is  stated  to  have 
been  very  scanty ;  and  to  make  it  yield  any  profit  what 
ever,  it  was  necessary  "  to  work  exceeding  hard."  The 
size  of  the  book  was  folio;  the  paper  of  the  sort  then 
called  pro  patria  ;  the  type  for  the  text  pica,  and  for  the 
notes  long  primer.  Of  these  folio  pages,  "  I  composed," 
says  Franklin,  "  a  sheet  a  day,  and  Meredith  worked  it 
off  at  the  press.  It  was  often  11  o'clock  at  night,  and 
sometimes  later,  before  I  had  finished  my  distribution 
[of  the  types  thus  set]  for  the  next  day's  work ;  as  the 
little  jobs  sent  in  by  our  other  friends,  now  and  then  put 
us  back.  But  so  determined  was  I  to  continue  doing  a 
sheet  a  day  of  the  folio,  that  one  night,  when,  having 
imposed  my  forms,  I  thought  my  day's  work  was  over, 
one  of  them  by  accident  was  broken,  and  two  of  the 
pages  reduced  to  pi.  I  immediately  distributed  and 
composed  it  over  again,  before  I  went  to  bed." 

This  was,  indeed,  "  working  hard."  But  such  perse 
vering  industry  soon  began  to  yield  its  appropriate  re 
ward  ;  for  it  soon  became  obvious  to  the  community,  and 
gave  a  character,  which  secured  confidence  and  credit. 
The  merchants  of  Philadelphia,  it  appears,  had  a  club 
called  the  Every-Night  Club.  The  new  partnership  in 
the  printing  business  having  been  casually  mentioned  in 
this  club,  one  evening,  the  opinion  was  pretty  generally 
expressed  that  "  it  must  fail,  there  bein'g  already  two 
printers  in  the  place."  One  of  the  company,  however, 
(Dr.  Baird,)  thought  differently;  for,  said  he,  "the  in 
dustry  of  that  Franklin  is  superior  to  anything  I  ever 
saw  of  the  kind.  I  see  him  still  at  work  when  I  go 


RELIGIOUS    VIEWS MODE    OP    WORSHIP.  149 

home  from  the  club,  and  he  is  at  work  again  before  his 
neighbors  are  out  of  bed." 

The  words  of  Dr.  Baird  made  an  impression  on  his 
hearers,  which  produced  shortly  after,  from  one  of  them, 
a  spontaneous  offer  to  these  industrious  printers  to  sup 
ply  them  with  a  stock  of  stationery.  But,  though  grati 
fied  by  the  offer,  they  declined  it,  not  being  disposed  then 
to  take  up  that  branch  of  business.  The  remark  which 
Franklin  adds  to  his  relation  of  these  incidents  is  worthy 
of  attention.  "  I  mention  this  industry  the  more  freely," 
•says  he,  "  that  those  of  my  posterity  who  shall  read  it, 
may  know  the  use  of  that  virtue,  when  they  see  its  effects 
in  my  favor,  throughout  this  narrative."  Such  was  the 
value  placed  upon  industry,  and  the  honor  in  which  labor 
was  held,  by  one  of  the  wisest  men  of  his  own  times  or 
any  other. 

About  this  time,  Franklin  drew  up  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  papers  to  be  found  among  his  writings.  It 
is  entitled  :  "  Articles  of  Belief  and  Acts  of  Religion  ;" 
and  is  dated  the  20th  of  November,  1728,  when  he  was 
approaching  the  end  of  his  twenty-third  year.  Much 
thought  was  obviously  bestowed  upon  it,  both  as  to  mat 
ter  and  method,  and  it  is,  in  style  and  language,  as  pol 
ished  and  exact  as  anything  he  ever  wrote.  It  is,  in  fact, 
a  kind  of  liturgy  —  uniting  a  confession  of  faith  with  a 
formulary  of  worship,  suited  to  the  use  of  an  individual 
in  his  private  devotions  ;  and  it  is  manifestly  pervaded 
by  a  deep  feeling  of  sincerity.  It  is  far  too  long  for 
insertion  here ;  and  yet  it  has  in  it  so  much  of  its  author, 
that  to  omit  all  notice  of  it  would  be  to  overlook  some 
of  the  most  marked  peculiarities  of  his  mental  habits  and 
modes  of  thinking,  at  that  period  of  his  life.  For  the 
illustration  of  those  peculiarities,  therefore,  some  account 
of  this  paper  seems  proper ;  but  a  brief  one  will  suffice. 

This  document,  then,  states  the  author's  belief  in  one 
13* 


150  LIFE     OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

infinitely  perfect,  eternal,  and  supreme  Deity ;  and  in 
various  classes  of  subordinate  celestial  beings,  the  high 
est  of  whom,  though  created  and  dependent,  are  very 
exalted,  good,  and  powerful ;  invested  with  high  func 
tions  by  the  one  Supreme,  whom  they  worship  and  obey  ; 
who  are  themselves  also  entitled  to  reverence  and  hom 
age  from  all  inferior  intelligent  creatures,  including 
man  ;  and  one  of  whom  is  placed,  with  delegated  author 
ity,  at  the  head  of  our  world,  as  the  more  immediate 
superintendent  of  its  affairs  and  occupants. 

Following  the  articles  of  belief,  comes  the  formulary^ 
of  worship,  arranged  in  three  parts,  entitled  Adoration, 
Petition,  and  Thanks,  agreeing  in  this  respect,  substan 
tially,  with  the  usual  order  of  divine  service,  and  consti 
tuting  what  the  author  denominates  "  Acts  of  Religion." 
To  give  a  proper  guidance  to  the  mind  at  all  times,  while 
engaged  in  these  acts,  and  to  furnish  it  with  fitting  and 
worthy  reasons  for  praise  and  thanksgiving,  as  well  as 
with  important  and  well-considered  objects  of  supplica 
tion,  this  formulary  was  composed. 

The  first  act,  adoration,  commences  by  reverently  ad 
dressing  the  Deity  as  Creator  and  Father,  and  proceeds 
with  ascriptions  of  praise  for  his  power,  wisdom,  and 
goodness,  as  displayed  in  his  works  and  laws,  the  order 
of  nature,  the  course  of  his  providence,  the  rectitude  of 
his  moral  government,  his  abhorrence  of  all  evil  passions 
and  wicked  deeds,  and  his  love  for  whatever  is  true, 
benevolent,  and  just. 

Adoration  is  followed,  first,  by  a  short  interval  of 
meditation ;  then  by  a  hymn ;  then  by  reading  some 
discourse  designed  to  promote  the  love  and  practice  of 
virtue  ;  then  comes  the  second  part,  entitled  "  Petition," 
a  series  of  supplications  for  moral  and  spiritual  bles 
sings  ;  and  then  the  service  closes  with  "  Thanks"  for 
blessings  already  bestowed. 


HIGH    MORAL    VIEWS.  1 

Of  the  peculiarities  of  sentiment  indicated  in  this 
document,  there  is  one  which  it  may  be  interesting  to 
notice  more  distinctly.  Among  all  its  petitions,  there  is 
not  one  for  external  prosperity.  The  Deity  is  suppli 
cated  only  for  moral  and  spiritual  blessings  ;  for  mental 
soundness,  right  principles,  virtuous  sentiments,  and  rec 
titude  of  conduct;  or,  as  related  of  Solomon,  for  "a 
wise  and  understanding  heart,"  that  he  might  discern 
the  truth  and  do  right ;  to  which  the  riches,  honor,  and 
length  of  days  not  asked  for,  were  bountifully  added. 
For  the  peculiarity  mentioned,  the  paper  itself  alleges, 
as  the  reason,  that,  in  our  human  frailty  and  unfore- 
seeing  ignorance,  we  can  never  be  certain  that  outward 
possessions  may.  not  prove  a  snare  instead  of  a  benefit ; 
and  that  it  is  wiser,  and  more  in  the  true  spirit  of  filial 
trust,  to  "  take  no  thought"  for  such  things,  but  calmly 
rely  on  the  established  course  of  a  beneficent  Providence, 
for  those  means  of  comfortable  living  which  are  the 
usual  recompense  of  steady  industry  and  an  honest  life, 
inasmuch  as  "our  heavenly  Father  knoweth  that  we 
have  need  of  these  things." 

Such  are  the  scope  and  spirit  of  these  petitions.  To 
show  the  form  in  which  they  are  offered,  a  specimen  or 
two  will  suffice.  They  commence  as  follows  : — 

"  That  I  may  be  preserved  from  atheism,  impiety,  and 
profaneness  ;  and  in  my  addresses  to  thee,  avoid  irrever 
ence,  ostentation,  and  hypocrisy — help  me,  O  Father!" 

"  That  I  may  be  faithful  to  my  country,  careful  for  its 
good,  valiant  in  its  defence,  and  obedient  to  its  laws, 
abhorring  treason  as  much  as  tyranny — help  me,  O 
Father!" 

Thus  the  petitions  proceed,  asking  that  the  petitioner 
may  be  humble,  sincere,  merciful,  forgiving,  candid,  in 
genuous,  faithful ;  liberal  to  the  poor,  tender  to  the  feeble, 
reverent  to  the  aged,  compassionate  to  the  wretched, 


152  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

temperate  in  all  things,  watchful  against  pride  and  anger, 
ready  to  protect  the  innocent,  humane,  neighborly,  hos 
pitable  to  strangers,  impartial  in  judgment,  upright  and 
fair  in  dealing,  ever  acting  with  probity  and  honor — 
grouping,  in  thirteen  distinct  paragraphs  like  the  above 
in  form,  the  endowments  and  qualities,  the  traits  of  char 
acter  and  principles  of  conduct,  which  belong  to  a  good 
and  useful  man  in  the  varied  relations  of  life,  and  in 
cluding  "  whatsoever  things  are  true,  honest,  just,  lovely, 
and  of  good  report." 

In  the  concluding  part,  thanks  are  rendered  for 
"  peace  and  liberty ;  for  food  and  raiment,  for  corn,  and 
wine,  and  milk,  and  every  kind  of  healthful  nourish 
ment  ;  for  the  common  blessings  of  air  and  light ;  for 
useful  fire  and  delicious  water;  for  knowledge,  litera 
ture,  and  every  useful  art;  for  friends  and  their  prosper 
ity,  and  for  the  fewness  of  his  enemies;"  the  closing 
paragraph  summing  up  his  gratitude  in  the  following 
comprehensive  form  : — 

"  For  all  thy  innumerable  benefits  —  for  life,  and  rea 
son,  and  the  use  of  speech  ;  for  health,  and  joy,  and 
every  pleasant  hour — good  God,  I  thank  thee  !" 

That  the  document  described  contains  many  elevated 
thoughts  and  just  sentiments,  no  one  will  probably  feel 
disposed  to  deny.  Indeed,  its  general  accordance  with 
the  purely  preceptive  portions  of  the  New  Testament 
is  manifest.  Considered  as  a  summary  of  religious  faith 
and  of  the  grounds  of  practical  morality,  it  may  perhaps 
most  properly  be  said  to  be  deficient,  rather  than  wrong. 
But  the  deficiency,  as  we  regard  it,  is  a  very  material 
one ;  inasmuch  as  it  consists  in  the  failure  to  recognise 
any  authoritative  revelation  of  truth  from  heaven,  or  any 
fact,  principle,  or  rule  of  conduct,  peculiar  to  Christian 
ity  ;  thus  losing  not  only  the  inestimable  benefit  deriva 
ble  from  the  highest  sanctions  .even  of  the  moral  truths 


PROJECTED    NEWSPAPER WEBB'S    TREACHERY.        153 

it  embraces,  and  the  surest  safeguards  of  the  virtues  it 
commends,  but  overlooking  also  what  the  experience  of 
life,  in  every  generation,  has  proved  to  be  the  most  sus 
taining,  ennobling,  and  consolatory  views  of  the  rela 
tions  of  the  Deity  to  the  human  race ;  of  the  motives  he 
has  supplied,  and  the  means  he  has  in  his  mercy  pro 
vided,  for  their  highest  improvement,  their  truest  and 
most  durable  welfare. 

Our  task,  however,  is  narration  —  not  discussion;  and 
opinions  and  principles  are  noticed,  not  as  points  to  be 
argued  here,  but  simply  as  facts  necessary  to  a  faithful 
and  impartial  exhibition  of  the  mental  history  and  pro 
gressive  development  of  character,  of  the  man  whose 
life  we  are  attempting  to  delineate. 

Franklin  being  now  established  in  his  trade,  and  grow 
ing  in  the  favor  and  confidence  of  the  community,  his 
business,  as  well  as  his  habits  of  study  and  ready  com 
mand  of  his  pen,  naturally  suggested  the  idea  of  pub 
lishing  a  newspaper,  which  he  determined  to  undertake 
as  soon  as  he  should  feel  a  little  more  assured  of  his 
position.  While  he  was  maturing  this  design  in  his 
own  mind,  and  waiting  the  proper  time  to  announce  it 
and  commence  the  publication,  George  Webb  —  who, 
with  means  furnished  by  a  generous  female  friend,  had 
redeemed  the  remnant  of  time  and  service  for  which  he 
was  bound  to  Keimer — applied  to  Meredith  and  Frank 
lin  to  be  employed  by  them  as  a  journeyman.  They 
did  not  just  then  want  more  hands ;  but  Franklin  un 
warily  communicated  to  Webb  his  design  respecting  a 
newspaper,  with  the  reasons  which  influenced  him ;  and 
added  that,  when  ready  to  start  the  publication,  they 
would  probably  wish  to  employ  him. 

Franklin's  expectation  of  success  with  his  contem 
plated  paper,  was  founded  on  his  knowledge  of  the  fact 
that  Bradford's  paper,  the  only  one  then  published  in 


154  MFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

the  place,  though  a  poor  thing  and  most  unskilfully  man 
aged  in  all  respects,  nevertheless  paid  well ;  and  he  felt 
therefore,  the  strongest  confidence  that  a  well-conducted 
paper — that  should  present  its  readers  with,  not  only  a 
general  and  well-compiled  summary  of  news,  but  sen 
sible  and  intelligent  views  of  public  affairs,  and  other 
matters  worth  reading,  on  subjects  in  which  people  gen 
erally  took  an  interest  —  would  be  certain  to  find  a  lib 
eral  and  growing  support. 

This  communication  was  made  to  Webb  in  strict  con 
fidence  ;  but  he  was  base  enough  to  disclose  the  whole 
project,  without  delay,  to  Keimer,  who  still  more  dis 
honorably  went  immediately  to  work,  without  scruple, 
to  avail  himself  of  Franklin's  ideas,  and  to  pilfer  for 
himself  the  advantages  justly  due  to  another,  by  forth 
with  issuing  proposals  for  publishing  a  newspaper  him 
self,  and  Webb  was  engaged  to  assist  him. 

This  treachery  excited  the  just  indignation  of  Frank 
lin,  who,  with  characteristic  promptitude  and  energy, 
but  by  fair  and  legitimate  means,  straightway  set  himself 
to  thwart  the  base  interlopers,  by  giving  to  Bradford's 
paper  attractions  it  had  never  before  possessed.  For 
this  purpose  he  commenced  a  series  of  communications, 
under  the  title  of  the  "Busy-Body;"  and  Bradford  ex 
tended  the  demand  for  his  "  Weekly  Mercury,"  by 
inserting  them. 

This  series  was  commenced  in  the  forepart  of  Feb 
ruary,  1729  —  not  many  days  after  Franklin  had  com 
pleted  the  twenty-third  year  of  his  age.  The  first  five 
numbers,  with  the  eighth,  being  unquestionably  from  his 
pen,  are  included  in  the  last  and  fullest  collection  of 
•Franklin's  writings,  edited  by  Dr.  Sparks.  The  other 
twenty-four  numbers  of  the  series,  thirty-two  in  all,  are 
said  to  have  been  written  chiefly,  if  not  exclusively,  by 
Franklin's  worthy  friend  Brientnall,  already  known  as 


THE    BUSY-BODY THE    NEWSPAPER.  155 

a  member  of  the  Junto.  In  this  way  the  two  friends 
drew  the  public  curiosity  and  attention  to  Bradford's 
Mercury  so  effectually,  that  Keimer's  proposals  were 
slighted  and  neglected.  Still,  notwithstanding  the  ridi 
cule  and  contempt  which  he  brought  upon  himself, 
Keimer,  with  the  obstinate  and  perverse  temper  which 
formed  so  large  an  ingredient  in  his  nature,  persisted  in 
starting  his  paper.  After  forcing  it  along,  however, 
with  great  difficulty  for  several  months,  with  a  list  of 
subscribers  never  exceeding  ninety  in  number,  he  at  last 
came,  long  before  the  end  of  the  first  year,  with  an  offer 
to  sell  out,  for  a  very  small  consideration,  to  Franklin, 
who,  being  now  entirely  prepared  to  go  forward  with 
his  original  design,  closed  with  Keimer  at  once,  and 
soon  made  the  paper  productive  property. 

Franklin's  numbers  of  the  Busy-Body  were  his  first 
attempt  at  essay- writing ;  and  they  do  him  credit.  He 
takes  the  office  of  a  censor  morum  ;  not,  however,  in  the 
narrow  modern  sense,  confining  his  strictures  to  mere 
manners ;  but  in  the  old  and  wider  sense,  including  all 
the  ways  of  men,  and  aiming  at  such  notions  and  prac 
tices,  whether  commonly  prevalent  or  occurring  occa 
sionally,  as  offer  fair  subjects  for  either  grave  admonition 
or  ridicule  and  satire  ;  and  both  his  matter  and  style  in 
dicate,  not  only  unusual  talents,  but  a  degree  of  culture 
altogether  surprising  in  a  young  mechanic  of  twenty- 
three,  who  had  been  compelled  to  earn  his  living  with 
the  labor  of  his  hands.  The  matter  gives  ample  evi 
dence  of  an  observant  mind,  capable  of  nice  discrimina 
tion,  abounding  with  good  sense,  and  nourished  by 
reading;  while  the  style  is  natural,  simple,  and  pure  — 
flowing  on  smoothly,  aiming  only  to  convey  the  author's 
ideas  in  appropriate  language,  without  straining  after 
ornament,  or  that  exaggerated  force  of  expression  which 
is  so  apt  to  run  into  bombast  or  fustian,  from  which 


156  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

never  was  writer  more  entirely  free.  It  may  be  added, 
moreover,  that  the  practical  test,  when  applied  to  these 
pieces,  not  less  than  judicious  criticism,  bears  witness  to 
their  merit;  for  they  were  successful  in  accomplishing 
their  purpose. 

From  a  passage  in  the  5th  number  of  the  Busy-Body 
it  seems  that  Keimer  had  entitled  his  paper,  "  The  In 
structor.  On  passing  to  the  new  proprietors,  they  chang 
ed  the  title  to  "  Pennsylvania  Gazette,"  but  retained 
the  numbering,  and  their  first  issue  was  numbered  40, 
dated  September  25th,  1729  ;  and  though  Meredith  was 
at  best  but  an  indifferent  workman,  and  had  become  a 
very  intemperate  drinker,  yet  Franklin,  who  had  in  fact 
the  whole  control  of  their  business,  took  care  that  the 
paper  should,  on  first  coming  from  their  press,  exhibit, 
witii  its  new  type  and  workmanlike  execution,  an  ap 
pearance  much  superior  to  anything  of  the  kind  yet 
seen  in  that  community. 

The  improved  aspect  of  the  paper,  and  the  character 
of  its  contents,  at  once  attracted  general  attention.  Some 
remarks  from  Franklin's  pen,  relative  to  a  controversy 
then  existing  in  Massachusetts,  between  the  governor  and 
the  assembly  of  that  colony,  made  such  an  impression 
upon  the  leading  men  in  Philadelphia,  that  the  paper  and 
its  new  conductor  became  the  frequent  subject  of  their 
conversation,  and  in  a  few  weeks  their  names  were  all 
on  the  subscription-list  of  the  Gazette.  This  example 
of  the  leading  men  proved  contagious,  and  "  the  list 
went  on  growing  continually"  —  a  result  in  which  Frank 
lin  could  recognise,  much  to  his  satisfaction,  some  of 
the  advantages,  as  he  modestly  expresses  it,  "  of  hav 
ing  learned  a  little  to  scribble." 

The  controversy  mentioned,  between  the  Massachu 
setts  assembly,  and  Burnet,  then  governor  of  that  colony, 
related  to  the  settlement  of  a  salary  for  that  officer  ;  and 


COLONIAL    RIGHTS     ASSERTED.  157 

as  it  involved  substantially  the  same  leading  principles, 
which,  forty-seven  years  later,  produced  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  and  the  war  by  which  it  was  vindica 
ted,  it  will  be  interesting  to  see  that  the  same  man,  who, 
when  his  head  was  whitening  with  age,  assisted  to  make 
that  Declaration,  had,  in  the  bloom  of  his  first  manhood, 
maintained  the  chartered  rights  and  liberties  of  his  coun 
try. 

It  was  not  the  amount  of  salary,  but  the  authority 
under  which  it  was  claimed,  and  the  manner  in  which 
the  permanent  settlement  of  it  was  demanded,  that  caused 
the  controversy  in  question.  Governor  Burnet,  by  virtue 
of  his  instructions  from  the  British  cabinet,  required  of 
the  assembly  an  immediate  and  permanent  grant  of  a 
thousand  pounds  sterling  yearly,  to  him  and  his  succes 
sors.  This  the  assembly  refused,  on  the  ground  that 
such  demand  was  repugnant  both  to  the  English  consti 
tution  arid  to  the  charter  of  the  colony ;  that  no  grant 
of  their  own  money  could  be  rightfully  made,  but  by 
their  own  free  will,  and  in  such  measure,  and  for  such 
time,  as  they  should  consider  just,  or  expedient ;  that 
thus  only  had  their  grants  of  money  been  made  in  time 
past,  and  thus  only  should  they  be  made  in  time  to  come  ; 
that  as  the  governor  was  appointed  by  the  king,  if  his 
salary  were  to  be  fixed  in  amount  and  permanent,  he 
would  be  rendered  too  independent  of  the  colony  to  con 
sult  its  welfare ;  for  they  judged,  to  use  Franklin's 
words,  that  "  there  should  be  a  mutual  dependence  be 
tween  the  governor  and  the  governed,  and  that  to  make 
the  governor  independent,  would  be  dangerous  to  their 
liberties,  and  the  ready  way  to  establish  tyranny ;"  and 
he  holds  up  the  assembly  to  commendation  for  con 
tinuing  "  thus  resolutely  to  abide  by  what  they  think 
their  right  and  that  of  the  people  they  represent,"  not 
withstanding  the  threats,  or  intrigues  of  the  governor,  or 

14 


158  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

his  means  of  influence  derived  from  the  numerous  posts 
of  honor  and  profit  at  his  disposal. 

Franklin  was  now  beginning  to  reap  the  recompense 
of  his  early  and  persevering  industry  in  training  him 
self  as  a  writer ;  and  the  men  of  intelligence  and  fore 
sight  in  the  community  about  him,  "  seeing  a  newspaper 
now  in  the  hands  of  those  who  could  also  handle  a  pen," 
deemed  it  expedient  to  give  it  their  countenance.  In 
doing  this,  however,  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  they 
were  not  all  influenced  by  a  purely  disinterested  desire 
to  promote  the  success  of  the  young  tradesman,  simply 
because  he  deserved  it,  or  from  a  liberal  public  spirit 
only.  Their  own  advantage,  immediate,  or  remote,  seems 
to  have  had  place  among  the  motives  of  some  ;  and 
very  properly  too,  if  such  advantage  was  to  be  sought 
by  none  but  worthy  means.  At  all  events,  it  was  prob 
ably  not  long  before  all  were  permitted  to  understand, 
whatever  might  have  been  the  inducements  of  any  to 
favor  the  new  paper  and  its  conductor,  that  neither  of 
these  could  be  used  for  any  purpose  not  consistent  with 
truth,  or  justice,  or  a  manly  and  candid  freedom. 

There  is  an  anecdote  that  strikingly  exemplifies  what 
has  last  been  said ;  and  though  its  date  is  not  very  ex 
actly  ascertained,  it  may  be  as  fitly  told  in  this  con 
nection  as  in  any.  It  is  not  related  by  Franklin  him 
self,  but  it  has  obtained  such  currency,  is  so  well  wor 
thy  of  record  for  the  lesson  it  teaches,  and  has  so  much 
characteristic,  if  not  literal  truth,  that  it  should  not  be 
omitted.  It  runs  substantially  as  follows  :  — 

Having  made  in  his  paper  some  rather  free  and  pun 
gent  strictures  on  the  public  acts  of  certain  leading 
men  of  the  city,  some  of  Franklin's  patrons  thought  fit 
to  reprove  him  for  so  doing,  and  told  him  that  others  of 
his  friends  also  disliked  the  strain  of  his  remarks.  Hav 
ing  calmly  heard  what  they  had  to  say,  he  invited  them 


A    REMARKABLE    SUPPER.  159 

to  sup  with  him,  that  evening,  and  to  bring  with  them 
the  other  persons  alluded  to.  When  the  appointed  hour 
came,  bringing  his  guests  with  it,  he  received  them  cour 
teously,  and  again  listened,  with  undisturbed  temper,  to 
their  well-meant  remonstrances.  On  repairing  to  the 
supper-table,  great  was  their  surprise  at  finding  on  it 
only  two  coarse  Indian  puddings,  made  of  unbolted 
meal  called  "  sawdust,"  to  eat,  and  a  stout  jug  of  water, 
to  drink.  They  civilly  suppressed  their  surprise  as  well 
as  they  could,  while  their  host,  with  laudable  self-pos 
session,  helped  them  bountifully  to  pudding,  and  with  a 
relishing  air  partook  freely  of  it  himself;  hospitably 
pressing  them,  the  while,  to  follow  his  example.  This 
they  politely  strove  to  do ;  but  the  effort  was  unavail 
ing  ;  the  pudding  would  not  go  down.  After  enjoying, 
for  a  reasonable  time,  the  struggle  between  the  polite 
ness  of  his  guests  and  their  disgust  at  the  pudding,  Frank 
lin  rose,  and  with  a  smile  and  a  bow  that  served  for  un 
derscoring,  spoke  to  them  these  significant  words  :  — 
"  My  friends,  he  who  can  live  on  sawdust-pudding  and 
water,  as  I  can,  is  not  dependent  on  any  man's  patron 
age." 


160  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN     FRANKLIN. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

IS    MADE  PUBLIC  PRINTER AN  ERROR  CORRECTED DIS 
SOLVES      PARTNERSHIP REAL       FRIENDS CONTINUES 

RISING — -PAPER   MONEY. 

WHILE  Franklin  was  thus  industriously  employed,  ex 
tending  his  business  by  the  neatness  and  despatch  with 
which  he  executed  his  work,  and  resolutely  maintaining 
his  own  independence  and  the  legitimate  freedom  of  the 
press,  his  neighbor  Bradford,  though  his  private  custom 
was  gradually  diminishing,  still  continued  printer  for  the 
public  authorities  of  the  province.  But  his  work  was  al 
ways  done  in  a  slovenly  manner ;  and  having  about  this 
time,  sent  from  his  office  an  address  of  the  colonial  assem 
bly  to  the  governor,  more  carelessly  done  and  more  crowd 
ed  with  blunders  than  usual,  Franklin  reprinted  it  with 
particular  neatness  and  accuracy,  and  caused  a  copy  of  it 
to  be  laid  before  each  member  of  the  assembly.  The  differ 
ence  between  the  two  editions  was  so  palpable  and  great, 
that  it  could  not  fail  to  strike  the  most  heedless  ;  and  the 
members  were  so  much  pleased  with  the  reprint,  that 
they  gave  the  whole  of  the  public  printing,  by  a  strong 
vote,  to  Franklin  &  Meredith,  for  the  year  then  com 
mencing. 

This  vote  of  the  assembly  was,  of  course,  very  grati 
fying  as  well  as  advantageous  to  Franklin  (for  Meredith's 
habitual  intemperance  had  rendered  him  more  of  a  bur 
den  than  a  benefit  to  their  business),  and  it  was  an  addi 
tional  gratification  to  know  that,  among  the  friends  who 


VERNON'S   MONEY  PAID.  161 

had  brought  it  to  pass,  was  Mr.  Hamilton,  the  eminent 
lawyer,  to,  whom,  as  heretofore  related,  Franklin  had 
rendered  such  valuable  service,  in  London,  by  putting 
him  on  his  guard  against  the  plots  of  Riddlesden  arid 
Keith ;  and  who  took  the  occasion  of  this  annual  vote 
for  a  public  printer,  as  he  did  every  fair  occasion  that 
subsequently  occurred,  to  repay  that  service  with  his  ac 
tive  and  efficient  friendship. 

The  error,  which  had  so  long  been  a  cause  of  anxiety 
and  mortification  to  Franklin  —  into  which,  as  will  be 
remembered,  he  had  been  unwarily  led  by  too  much  con 
fidence  in  his  early  companion  Collins  —  the  error  of 
lending  to  that  misguided  youth  the  money  collected  for 
Mr.  Vernon,  now  at  length  produced  the  consequence 
foreboded,  the  amount  being  applied  for,  before  he  was 
in  a  condition  to  pay  it.  Much,  however,  as  his  self-es 
teem  was  wounded  by  not  being  able  to  pay  over  the 
money  on  demand,  he  had  the  moral  firmness  to  do  the 
next  best  thing  in  his  power,  by  dealing  frankly  and  tru 
ly  with  Vernon ;  not  adding  to  his  own  humiliation  and 
self-reproach  by  any  weak  attempt  to  misrepresent  the 
matter,  or  to  prevaricate.  "  Mr.  Vernon,"  says  Frank 
lin,  "  about  this  time  put  me  in  mind  of  the  debt  I  owed 
him ;  but  he  did  not  press  me.  I  wrote  to  him  an  ingen 
uous  letter  of  acknowledgment,  craving  his  forbearance 
a  little  longer,  which  he  allowed  me.  As  soon  as  I  was 
able,  I  paid  the  principal  with  the  interest  and  many 
thanks  ;  so,  that  erratum  was  in  some  degree  corrected." 

It  will  be  recollected  that  Franklin  was  expressly  au 
thorized  to  keep  the  money  till  it  should  be  called  for  ; 
and  it  nowhere  appears  that  any  earlier  call  than  the  one 
now  mentioned,  was  ever  made  by  Vernon ;  so  that  in 
reality,  all  the  delay,  in  this  affair,  that  could  be  justly 
complained  of,  or  could  be  considered  wrongful  in  the 
eye  of  the  law,  was  that  which  took  place  subsequently 

14* 


162  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

to  the  above-named  letter  of  Vernon.  Nevertheless, 
Franklin's  own  solicitude  on  the  subject,  dated  from  the 
time  when  he  first  became  fully  conscious  01  his  error, 
in  having  thus  subjected  himself  to  a  liability  which  he 
could  not  instantly  meet ;  and  as  he  had,  clearly,  taken 
the  matter  much  more  seriously  to  heart,  than  had  Mr. 
Vernon,  he  felt  proportionately  grateful  for  the  forbear 
ance  extended  to  him.  Long  years  after,  while  he  was 
residing  at  Paris  as  minister  of  the  United  States  to  the 
court  of  France,  his  sensibility  to  the  liberal  kindness  of 
Vernon,  it  is  gratifying  to  relate,  was  further  manifested 
by  rendering  important  service  to  a  young  kinsman  of 
that  gentleman. 

A  more  serious  embarrassment,  in  a  mere  pecuniary 
sense,  and  the  more  annoying  from  its  having  never  been 
anticipated,  now  befell  him.  Mr.  Meredith,  senior,  it  will 
be  remembered,  was  to  furnish  the  money  for  setting  up 
the  firm  of  Franklin  &  Meredith  in  business.  The  whole 
eum  to  be  furnished  by  him  was  two  hundred  pounds, 
one  half  of  which  he  had  paid  up ;  but  the  other  half, 
now  overdue,  was  not  forthcoming,  and  he  was  unable  to 
raise  it.  The  merchant  who  had  imported  the  furniture 
of  the  printing-office,  and  to  whom  the  money  was  due, 
after  long  waiting,  lost  his  patience  and  commenced  a 
suit  against  both  the  elder  Meredith  and  the  two  part 
ners.  The  regular  course  of  the  suit  would  give  a  little 
time ;  but  as  there  was  no  real  defence  to  be  made,  that 
time  would  soon  run  out ;  and  if  the  money  could  not 
be  raised  to  meet  the  judgment  that  must  come,  the 
whole  establishment  would  be  sold  by  the  sheriff  under 
an  execution,  and  the  prospects  of  two  young  men,  now 
opening  so  fairly,  be  utterly  blasted. 

This  unhappy  state  of  things  became  known,  of  course, 
to  Franklin's  friends  ;  and  he  now  had  occasion,  not  on 
ly  to  realize,  with  livelier  emotions  than  ever  before,  the 


NOBLE    SENTIMENTS.  163 

advantages  of  that  character  he  had  established  for  res 
olute  self  denial  and  persevering  industry,  but  to  under 
stand,  also,  with  deeper  insight,  the  nature  and  value  of 
true  friendship. 

"  In  this  distress,"  says  he  in  his  own  account  of 
this  matter,  "  two  true  friends,  whose  kindness  I  have 
never  forgotten,  nor  ever  shall  forget  while  I  can  remem 
ber,  anything,  came  to  me,  separately  and  unknown  to 
each  other,  and,  without  any  application  from  me,  offered 
each  of  them  to  advance  me  all  the  money  that  should 
be  necessary  to  enable  me  to  take  the  whole  of  the  busi 
ness  upon  myself,  if  that  should  be  practicable  ;  but  they 
did  not  like  my  continuing  the  partnership  with  Mere 
dith  ;  who,  as  they  said,  was  often  seen  drunk  in  the 
streets,  or  playing  at  low  games  in  alehouses,  much  to 
our  discredit." 

Those  two  generous  friends  were  William  Coleman 
and  Robert  Grace,  to  whom  the  reader  has  been  already 
introduced  in  the  Junto.  Straitened  and  sore-pressed 
as  he  was,  however,  and  menaced  with  at  least  tempo 
rary  ruin  by  losing  the  fruits  of  his  long  and  arduous  la 
bor,  Franklin  now  showed  the  real  strength  and  noble 
ness  of  his  character,  by  his  reply  to  his  friends.  He 
told  them  that  he  considered  himself  under  such  obliga 
tions  to  the  Merediths,  for  the  advantages  he  had  deri 
ved  from  his  connection  with  them,  that  he  could  not, 
with  honor  and  a  good  conscience,  urge  a  dissolution  of 
the  partnership,  so  long  as  they  entertained  a  hope  of 
being  able  to  perform  their  engagements ;  but,  if  they 
should  find  themselves  wholly  unable  to  do  so,  and  the 
partnership  be  thus  broken  up,  he  should  then  feel  per 
fectly  free  to  avail  himself  of  the  proffered  aid. 

This  affair  was  alike  honorable  to  each  of  the  parties 
concerned  ;  to  Franklin,  for  his  fine  sense  of  justice  and 
upright  dealing  toward  the  Merediths  ;  and  to  his  two 


164  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

friends,  not  only  for  the  noble  sentiments  which  prompted 
their  generous  offers,  but  also,  in  a  case  like  this,  for  their 
really  enlightened  public  spirit,  in  coming  to  the  aid  of 
one,  who  had  given  such  unequivocal  proofs  of  his  abili 
ty  and  disposition  to  be  useful  to  the  community,  and  to 
render  it  yet  greater  and  more  valuable  service. 

The  affairs  of  the  partnership  continued  in  the  unpleas 
ant  and  hopeless  condition  described,  for  a  while  longer, 
when  Franklin  one  day  said  to  his  well-meaning  but  very 
unprofitable  partner :  "  Perhaps  your  father  is  dissatis 
fied  at  the  part  you  have  undertaken,  in  this  affair  of 
ours,  and  is  unwilling  to  advance  for  you  and  me,  what 
he  would,  for  you.  If  that  is  the  case,  tell  me,  and  I 
will  resign  the  whole  to  you,  and  go  about  my  business." 
To  this  Meredith  ingenuously  answered :  "  No ;  my 
father  has  really  been  disappointed,  and  is  really  una 
ble  ;  and  I  am  unwilling  to  distress  him  further.  I  see 
this  is  a  business  I  am  not  fit  for.  I  was  bred  a  farmer, 
and  it  was  folly  in  me  to  come  to  town,  and  put  myself, 
at  thirty  years  of  age,  an  apprentice  to  learn  a  new  trade. 
Many  of  our  Welsh  people  are  going  to  settle  in  North 
Carolina,  where  land  is  cheap.  I  am  inclined  to  go 
with  them  and  follow  my  old  employment.  You  may 
find  friends  to  assist  you.  If  you  will  take  the  debts  of 
the  company  upon  you,  return  to  my  father  the  hundred 
pounds  he  has  advanced,  pay  my  little  personal  debts, 
and  give  me  thirty  pounds  and  a  new  saddle,  I  will  re 
linquish  the  partnership  and  leave  the  whole  in  your 
hands.' 

Considering  all  the  circumstances  of  this  case,  and 
particularly  the  fact  that  Franklin  was  himself  the  very 
life  of  the  concern,  which  would  not  have  been  worth  a 
penny  without  him,  it  must  be  conceded  that  Meredith 
did  not  undervalue  his  own  interest,  in  the  terms  pro 
posed.  But  Franklin,  looking  no  doubt  more  at  the  ca- 


PARTNERSHIP    DISSOLVED.  165 

pabilities  of  the  establishment,  than  at  the  results  al 
ready  attained,  accepted  the  proposals  on  the  spot ;  and 
the  bargain  thus  promptly  made,  was  duly  executed  in 
writing,  before  the  parties  separated. 

Meredith,  shortly  after,  with  his  thirty  pounds  and 
clear  of  debt,  mounted  his  new  saddle  for  North  Caro 
lina;  "  whence,"  says  Franklin,  "  he  sent  me  next  year 
two  long  letters,  containing  the  best  account  that  had 
been  given  of  that  country,  the  climate,  the  soil,  and 
husbandry;  for  in  those  matters  he  was  very  judicious." 
The  letters,  it  is  added,  were  published  in  the  paper,  and 
gave  general  satisfaction.  Aside  from  his  pernicious 
practice  of  drinking  to  excess,  Meredith  appears  to  have 
been  a  sensible  and  amiable  man  ;  and  it  is  gratifying, 
in  taking  leave  of  him,  to  have  some  reason  to  believe 
that,  on  breaking  off  his  unfortunate  associations  in  Phil 
adelphia,  he  was  enabled  to  amend  his  life,  and  become 
a  more  useful  and  respectable  man. 

Having  now  dissolved  his  connection  with  the  Mere 
diths,  in  the  most  honorable  manner,  Franklin,  with  a 
clear  conscience  and  freshened  hopes,  no  longer  hesita 
ted  to  avail  himself  of  the  generous  proffers  of  Golem  an 
and  Grace.  That  he  might,  however,  be  impartial  in 
his  obligations  and  gratitude,  and  not  burden  either  of  his 
two  friends  more  heavily  than  his  real  exigences  honestly 
required,  he  took  from  each  of  them  a  moiety  of  the  whole 
sum  he  needed.  He  then  proceeded  at  once  to  pay  off 
all  the  debts  of  the  partnership,  and  publish  the  proper 
legal  notice  of  its  dissolution  ;  at  the  same  time  announ 
cing  that  he  should  continue  the  business  of  the  late  firm 
by  himself  alone  and  on  his  own  sole  account.  This  affair 
was  consummated  in  the  summer  of  1730,  the  notice  of 
dissolution  of  the  partnership,  as  published  in  his  paper, 
bearing  date  the  14th  of  July  in  that  year. 

Franklin  had  now  entered  the  latter  half  of  his  twen- 


166  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

ty-fifth  year;  and  events  soon  contributed  to  enhance 
the  importance  of  his  position,  and  to  assign  him  a  more 
important  and  influential  part  to  act  in  the  community. 

The  restrictions  imposed  by  the  mother-country  upon 
the  commerce,  navigation,  and  manufactures  of  her 
American  colonies,  confined  the  industry  of  the  great 
body  of  the  colonial  population  almost  exclusively  to 
agriculture ;  that  is,  to  the  production  of  food,  and  of 
raw  materials  to  be  manufactured  in  England  ;  thus  pre 
venting  that  varied  employment  of  capital  and  labor,  and 
that  diversity  of  occupations,  which  are  the  natural  re 
sults  of  the  unobstructed  progress  of  society,  and  indis 
pensable  to  the  completeness  of  its  organization  ;  which 
are,  also,  equally  indispensable  to  any  considerable  ex 
tension  of  either  external  or  internal  trade ;  and  the 
prosecution  of  which,  in  a  large  way,  for  the  purpose  of 
commercial  exchange  and  sale,  occasions  the  chief  de 
mand  for  money  and  gives  it  most  of  its  practical  social 
value ;  which,  in  fine,  are  necessary  to  the  universal  and 
gainful  activity  of  an  intelligent,  industrious,  and  enter 
prising  people,  and  their  advancement  in  civilization. 

As  one  of  the  consequences  of  this  selfish  and  monop 
olizing  policy  of  the  mother-country,  the  colonies,  cut 
off  from  the  benefits  of  some  of  their  most  important 
natural  advantages,  suffered  greatly  in  their  business, 
and  particularly  from  a  much  too  scanty  supply  of  cir 
culating  medium  ;  hard-money,  for  a  long  time  the  only 
currency  in  use,  being  rendered  very  injuriously  scarce. 

To  remedy  this  last-named  evil  as  well  as  circum 
stances  permitted,  the  colonial  legislatures,  one  after  an 
other,  resorted  to  paper-money  in  that  form  so  well 
known  in  the  colonial  and  revolutionary  history  of  the 
country,  as  "bills  of  credit;"  deriving  their  appellation 
from  the  fact  that  they  depended  for  their  value  on  the 
credit  of  the  government  issuing  them.  To  sustain  that 


PAPER    MONEY.  167 

credit,  however,  the  proceeds  of  specific  taxes,  or  other 
public  funds,  were  pledged  for  the  redemption  of  the 
bills,  which  were  put  into  circulation,  partly  in  the  way 
of  payments  made  by  government,  but  chiefly  in  the 
shape  of  loans  to  individuals,  at  a  moderate  rate  of  inter 
est,  and  to  be  repaid  in  small  annual  instalments  ;  the 
loans  being  usually  secured  by  mortgages  on  real  es 
tate.  In  many  cases,  moreover,  the  bills  were  made  a 
legal  tender  not  only  for  the  payment  of  dues  to  the  gov 
ernment,  but  also  in  all  private  transactions. 

The  first  issue  of  this  kind  of  currency  in  Pennsyl 
vania,  was  made  in  the  year  1723,  under  an  act  of  the 
provincial  assembly  passed  in  the  preceding  year,  while 
Sir  William  Keith  was  yet  governor.  Depreciation  was 
the  chief  danger  to  which  such  a  currency  was  exposed ; 
and  as  that  danger  was  believed  most  likely  to  be  incur 
red  by  an  excessive  issue,  that  is,  by  issuing  an  amount 
exceeding  the  real  wants  of  the  regular  business  and  le 
gitimate  undertakings  of  the  community,  the  assembly 
commenced  cautiously,  the  amount  of  their  first  issue 
being  limited  to  fifteen  thousand  pounds.  Of  this  sum 
no  part  could  be  loaned  but  upon  a  mortgage  of  unin- 
cumbered  land  of  twice  the  value  of  the  loan,  or  upon 
ample  pledges  of  plate  actually  deposited  in  the  loan- 
office  ;  the  rate  of  interest  was  fixed  at  five  per  cent,  to 
be  paid  yearly,  together  with  an  instalment  of  one  eighth 
of  the  principal  ;  the  bills  were  made  a  legal  tender  in 
all  cases,  under  the  penalty  of  forfeiting  the  debt,  or  the 
particular  commodity,  for  which  they  might  be  offered 
in  payment ;  and  still  more  effectually  to  maintain  their 
value  equal  to  that  of  gold  and  silver,  penalties  were 
enacted  against  any  bargain,  or  sale,  for  a  less  sum  in 
coin  than  in  bills. 

These  provisions  accomplished  their  object,  and  the 
business  of  the  province  soon  manifested,  by  its  exten- 


168  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN   FRANKLIN. 

sion  and  activity,  the  beneficial  influence  of  this  aug 
mentation  of  the  circulating  medium.  The  testimony 
of  Franklin  on  this  point  is  explicit  and  conclusive.  He 
first  went  to  Philadelphia  just  about  the  time  this  first 
issue  of  paper-money  was  made ;  and  the  subject  was 
of  such  deep  concern  to  the  whole  community  and  so 
universally  the  principal  topic  of  conversation,  that  it 
took  stronghold  of  his  mind.  By  the  time  its  practical 
operation  had  become  well  developed,  the  Junto  was  or 
ganized,  and  this  subject  was  elaborately  discussed  in 
that  club,  particularly  by  Franklin,  who  took  his  stand 
in  favor  of  this  currency,  not  for  the  sake  of  argument, 
but  because  he  was  thoroughly  convinced  of  its  utility, 
from  his  own  observation  of  the  increase  of  trade,  em 
ployment,  and  population,  produced  by  the  issue  of 
1723. 

When  he  first  walked  about  Philadelphia,  eating  his 
roll  of  bread,  (to  use  for  the  most  part  his  own  words,) 
he  saw  many  a  house  in  the  principal  streets,  with  bills 
— "  to  let" — on  their  doors  ;  and  so  frequent  were  these 
notices,  that  they  "  made  him  think  the  inhabitants  of  the 
city  were  one  after  another  deserting  it;"  whereas,  in  a 
few  years  under  the  impulse  imparted  to  business  by  a 
more  plentiful  circulating  medium,  he  "  saw  the  old 
houses  all  occupied  and  many  new  ones  building." 

The  act  authorizing  this  first  issue  of  bills  of  credit 
in  Pennsylvania,  provided,  it  should  be  remembered, 
that  the  loans  under  it  should  be  repaid  in  eight  annual 
instalments  ;  and  before  Franklin  closed  accounts  with 
the  Merediths,  the  period  limited  for  calling  in  and  ex 
tinguishing  these  bills,  was  approaching  so  near  its  ter 
mination,  that  the  public  attention  had  again  become 
fixed  upon  the  subject,  and  its  importance  had  once  more 
made  it  the  leading  topic  of  discussion  throughout  the 
province. 


BENEFIT    OF     THE    PAPER-MONEY.  169 

The  effects  of  this  first  trial,  now  before  the  eyes  of 
all,  were  so  evidently  and  generally  beneficial,  that  the 
laboring  classes,  the  men  of  small  means  and  compara 
tively  moderate  possessions,  who  needed  more  or  less 
credit,  and  whose  industry,  enterprise,  and  knowledge 
of  business,  enabled  them  to  make  an  advantageous  use 
of  credit,  were  everywhere,  in  town  and  country,  strong 
ly  in  favor  of  the  policy,  which  had  furnished  a  more 
plentiful  supply  of  the  means  of  buying  and  selling,  of 
giving  employment  to  labor,  of  extending  the  cultiva 
tion  of  the  land,  augmenting  the  population,  and  bring 
ing  out  the  resources  of  the  province  ;  and  all  these 
classes  of  people,  in  view  of  the  near  approach  of  the  time 
fixed  for  the  withdrawal  of  those  means,  had  begun  to 
call,  with  great  and  growing  earnestness,  for  the  meas 
ures  necessary,  not  only  to  prevent  the  serious  injury 
which  would  result  from  the  sudden  withdrawal  of  the 
bills  then  in  circulation,  but  for  another  and  a  somewhat 
larger  issue,  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  augmented  busi 
ness  of  the  province,  and  to  aid  in  still  further  develop 
ing  its  resources,  and  giving  enterprise  a  still  wider 
range. 

"While  the  great  body  of  the  people,  however,  were 
thus  calling  for  a  further  supply  of  that  which  they  had 
found  so  useful,  the  capitalists  and  men  of  wealth  gen 
erally,  either  because,  with  a  scanty  currency,  they  would 
have  a  fuller  control  of  the  whole  amount,  or  for  other 
reasons,  opposed  the  whole  paper-money  policy.  They 
insisted  that  no  legislative  provisions  and  no  condition 
of  the  community  could  prevent  the  depreciation  of 
these  bills ;  and  that  the  inevitable  operation  of  such  a 
currency,  when  made  a  lawful  tender  in  payment,  either 
of  debts  already  due,  or  of  sums  to  accrue  on  future 
contracts  and  payable  at  a  subsequent  day,  would  be 
greatly  injurious  to  creditors,  because,  in  the  prog- 
15 


170  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

ress  of  depreciation,  the  sums  actually  paid  would  be 
of  less  and  less  value,  as  compared  with  coin,  though 
nominally  equal. 

At  this  juncture  Franklin  discussed  this  subject,  in  a 
pamphlet,  entitled,  "  A  Modest  Inquiry  into  the  Nature 
and  Necessity  of  a  Paper  Currency."  Though  publish 
ed  anonymously,  the  authorship  of  the  pamphlet  was  no 
secret ;  and  being  widely  circulated,  it  exerted  a  con 
trolling  influence  on  public  opinion.  Aside  from  his  oc 
casional  newspaper  paragraphs,  this  was  his  first  sys 
tematic  discussion  of  any  important  question  of  public 
policy  ;  and  it  is  now  extant  among  his  writings.  It  is 
admirable  for  the  fullness  of  knowledge,  ability,  and  ma 
turity  of  thought,  which  it  displays ;  aud  considered  as 
the  production  of  a  young  mechanic  in  his  twenty-fourth 
year,  it  is  a  very  remarkable  performance. 

Some  of  the  views  presented  in  this  paper  are  now 
deemed  erroneous,  and  some  of  its  reasonings  unsound. 
Yet,  writers  of  distinguished  ability  even  among  those 
who  hold  different  opinions  on  some  points,  admit  that 
it  also  contains  principles  of  great  importance,  which 
have  stood  the  test  of  reason  and  experience,  and  some 
of  which,  though  more  fully  developed  and  illustrated 
with  more  detail  by  later  writers,  have  never  been  more 
distinctly  recognised,  or  more  clearly  stated.  It  should 
be  also  observed,  that  in  regard  to  some  of  the  views 
which  have  been  declared  erroneous  by  one  class  of  wri 
ters,  that  others  perhaps  equally  able  would  pronounce 
a  different  judgment ;  while  it  is  conceded  on  all  hands, 
that  the  performance  in  question  displays  unusual  power 
of  philosophical  analysis,  with  a  profound  and  clear  in 
sight  into  the  complex  and  difficult  subject  of  which  it 
treats  ;  and  that  no  one  even  of  those  have  been  accus 
tomed  to  such  investigations,  can  read  this  "  Inquiry," 
without  finding  his  ideas  simplified  and  rendered  more 


PAMPHLET    ON     PAPER-MONEY.  171 

definite  on  some  points,  and  seeing  the  whole  subject  in 
a  clearer  light. 

Franklin  was  all  the  better  prepared  for  handling  this 
subject,  and  presenting  it  to  the  public  with  clearness 
and  force,  by  his  having  taken  a  leading  part  in  the  dis 
cussion  of  it  in  the  Junto.  Referring  to  the  pamphlet, 
in  his  autobiography,  he  states  that  the  people  generally 
received  it  with  favor,  while  the  rich  men  disliked  it,  as 
it  strengthened  the  call  for  another  issue  of  paper- 
money  ;  but  the  latter  class  having  none  among  them 
able  to  answer  it,  their  opposition  to  the  proposed  meas 
ure  relaxed,  so  that  at  the  next  session  of  the  assembly 
it  was  carried  by  a  handsome  majority. 

The  importance  of  Franklin's  service  in  this  matter 
was  felt  by  the  majority;  and  this  fact,  together  with  the 
natural  desire  to  encourage  so  efficient  a  writer  to  em 
ploy  his  pen  on  subjects  of  public  interest,  with  the  fur 
ther  consideration  that  the  work  done  at  his  press  was 
always  well  done,  induced  the  majority  of  the  assembly 
to  give  him  the  printing  of  the  new  bills  to  be  issued ; 
"  a  profitable  job,"  says  he,  "  and  a  great  help  to  me," 
as  well  as  "  another  advantage  gained  by  being  able  to 
write." 

Continued  experience  so  clearly  demonstrated  the  be 
neficent  operation  of  this  paper-money,  guarded  as  it  was 
against  depreciation,  that  the  principles  on  which  it  was 
issued  were  subsequently,  as  he  states,  but  little  dispu 
ted  ;  and  the  amount,  augmented  in  several  successive 
issues,  rose  at  last,  in  1739,  to  eighty  thousand  pounds  ; 
"  trade,  building,  and  inhabitants,  all  the  while  increas 
ing."  Subsequent  reflection,  however,  further  enlight 
ened  by  a  larger  and  more  varied  observation,  induced 
him  to  add  to  his  own  account  of  the  foregoing  proceed 
ings,  his  ultimate  conviction  "  that  there  are  limits"  to 
the  amount  of  such  a  currency,  beyond  which  it  may 


172  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

prove  injurious  to  those  very  interests,  to  which,  when 
it  is  properly  restricted  and  regulated,  it  can  be  rendered 
so  advantageous. 

It  seems  but  just  to  add  that  so  far  as  this  policy  was 
carried  in  Pennsylvania,  it  appears  pretty  clearly  to  have 
proved  on  the  whole  very  beneficial  in  its  direct  influ 
ence  on  the  internal  interests  of  the  province ;  that  it 
was  only  when  money  was  wanted  for  foreign  remit 
tances,  that  the  bills  of  this  local  currency  were  per 
ceived  to  be  somewhat  loss  valuable  than  gold  and  sil 
ver ;  though  the  discount  upon  them,  even  in  such  cases, 
was  not  large,  and  was  by  no  means  equal  to  the  coun 
terbalancing  benefits  which  resulted  from  the  increased 
activity  their  circulation  imparted  to  trade,'  and  the  im 
pulse  they  gave  to  the  general  prosperity  of  the  people. 

By  such  honorable  means  as  have  been  indicated, 
Franklin  was  now  thriving  both  in  business  and  reputa 
tion.  Not  long  after  the  printing  of  the  new  bills  for 
Pennsylvania,  he  was  employed  to  print  the  bills  of  a 
similar  issue  at  Newcastle,  for  "  The  Three  Lower 
Counties,"  as  Delaware  was  then  called.  For  this,  which 
he  regarded  as  another  beneficial  contract,  "  small 
things,"  as  he  expresses  it,  "  appearing  great  to  those 
in  small  circumstances,"  he  was  indebted  to  his  distin 
guished  friend,  Hamilton,  who  also  procured  for  him  the 
printing  of  the  journals  and  laws  of  the  colonial  govern 
ment  of  Delaware,  which  he  retained  as  long  as  he  con 
tinued  in  the  printing  business. 

Further  to  exemplify  Franklin's  assiduous  industry  in 
the  management  of  his  business,  and  especially  his  me 
chanical  ingenuity  and  resource,  it  is  but  just  to  state 
that  in  the  early  part  of  his  career,  when  he  had  yet  but 
little  cash  to  spare,  any  deficiency  in  the  implements  and 
apparatus  of  his  trade  was  usually  supplied  by  him 
self.  Thus  he  contrived  for  himself  the  apparatus  for 


YELLOW    WILLOW GYPSUM.  173 

casting  leaden  types;  executed  cuts  in  wood,  of  various 
ornaments  to  embellish  what  the  printers  call  job-work; 
made  printer's  ink ;  engraved  vignettes  on  copper,  and 
made  his  own  press  for  taking  impressions  from  such 
plates. 

Another  incident  is  related  of  him,  which  is  not  only 
interesting  in  itself,  but  testifies  to  the  vigilance  of  his  ob 
servation  and  his  habit  of  turning  whatever  he  observed 
to  some  useful  account.  It  was  he,  who,  as  related  in 
Watson's  Annals  of  Philadelphia,  first  propagated  in 
this  country  the  yellow  willow,  now  so  common  among 
us.  A  willow  basket,  in  which  he  had  received  some 
package  from  abroad,  having  been  thrown  aside  upon 
moist  ground,  had  sprouted.  Franklin  seeing  this, 
planted  some  cuttings  of  the  sprouting  rods,  and  from 
them,  it  is  alleged,  came  our  yellow  willow,  a  useful 
plant  not  only  for  wicker-work,  but  for  protecting  the 
banks  of  streams. 

Another  incident  of  much  greater  importance,  may  be 
properly  enough  introduced  in  this  connection.  It  is  re 
lated  by  Dr.  Sparks,  on  the  authority  of  the  distinguish 
ed  French  chemist,  Chaptal ;  and  it  shows  that  our  coun 
try  is  indebted  to  Franklin,  in  the  first  instance,  for  the 
knowledge  and  use  of  gypsum,  as  a  fertilizer  in  agricul 
ture.  This  article  having  originally  been  brought  from 
Paris,  was  long  known  only  by  the  name  of  plaster  of 
Paris  ;  and  Chaptal,  who  rendered  incalculable  service  to 
agriculture  by  applying  chemical  science  to  its  im 
provement,  in  his  work  on  Agricultural  Chemistry,  as 
quoted  by  Dr.  Sparks,  has  the  following  passage  : — 

"  As  this  celebrated  philosopher,"  says  Chaptal  refer 
ring  to  Franklin,  "  wished  that  the  effects  of  this  manure 
should  strike  the  gaze  of  cultivators,  he  wrote,  in  great 
letters  formed  by  the  use  of  the  ground  plaster,  in  a  field 
of  clover  lying  upon  the  great  road  :  '  This  has  been 
15* 


174  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN     FRANKLIN. 

plastered.'  The  prodigious  vegetation  which  was  devel 
oped  in  the  plastered  portion,  led  him  to  adopt  this  meth 
od.  Volumes  upon  the  excellency  of  plaster  would  not 
have  produced  so  speedy  a  revolution." 

The  mode  thus  chosen  for  recommending  the  new  ma 
nure,  by  its  unequivocal,  practical  directness  and  sim 
plicity,  was  highly  characteristic  of  Franklin  ;  and  the 
whole  statement  will  enhance  the  popular  respect  and 
affection  for  his  memory,  by  bringing  home  to  general 
recognition  what  has  been  but  little  known. 

About  the  time  when  Franklin  had  finished  the  print 
ing  of  the  Delaware  bills,  he  added  to  his  printing  busi 
ness  that  of  a  stationer ;  and  he  helped  his  custom  by 
keeping,  besides  the  usual  articles  of  stationery,  a  con 
stant  supply  of  blank  forms  commonly  used  in  convey 
ancing,  and  in  legal  proceedings  in  the  courts  of  justice. 
In  preparing  these  forms  he  was  assisted  by  his  friend 
Breintnall,  who  was  himself  a  conveyancer;  and  being 
well  arranged  and  carefully  printed,  their  neatness  and 
accuracy,  much  beyond  anything  previously  furnished  in 
that  way,  secured  the  custom  of  all  who  had  occasion  to 
use  them.  His  assortment  of  the  usual  articles  of  sta 
tionery  was  also  full,  and  thereto  was  added  an  ample 
supply  of  school-books,  and  other  books  for  children.  It 
is  worth  stating,  too,  as  indicative  of  the  impression  he 
made  on  those  with  whom  he  associated,  that  one  of  the 
journeymen  now  in  his  employ,  was  a  man  with  whom 
he  had  become  acquainted  in  the  London  printing- 
offices,  by  the  name  of  Whitmarsh,  who,  on  arriving  at 
Philadelphia,  had  gone  at  once  to  Franklin,  and  proved 
to  be  a  diligent  workman,  and  a  worthy  man.  He  had, 
also,  as  an  indented  apprentice,  a  young  son  of  that 
Aquila  Rose,  whose  death  left  the  opening  for  employ 
ment,  which  was  the  particular  inducement  that  led 
Franklin  first  to  Philadelphia,  nnd  whose  elogy  furnished 


HIS    DEVOTION    TO    HIS    BUSINESS.  175 

him  with  some  of  his  first  earnings  there,  in  working  it 
off  at  the  press,  when  it  had  been  composed  in  type  by 
the  eccentric  Keimer. 

Persevering  industry  and  personal  attention  to  his 
business,  with  civil  deportment,  and  constant  care  that 
whatever  work  he  was  employed  to  do,  should  be  done 
promptly  and  in  a  neat,  thorough,  and  workmanlike  man 
ner,  united  to  the  public  spirit  he  had  evinced,  and  his 
talents  as  a  writer,  were  now  producing  for  him  their 
legitimate  results  ;  and  his  thrift  enabled  him  to  com 
mence  paying  off  the  debt  he  had  incurred  in  setting  up 
his  printing-office.  His  habits  and  course  of  life  at  this 
period,  are  well  described  in  the  following  passage  from 
his  own  pen  : — 

"  In  order  to  secure  my  credit  and  character  as  a  trades 
man,"  says  he,  "  I  took  care  not  only  to  be  in  reality  indus 
trious  and  frugal,  but  to  avoid  even  appearances  to  the 
contrary.  I  dressed  plain,  and  was  seen  at  no  places  of 
idle  diversion.  I  never  went  out  a  fishing,  or  shooting. 
A  book,  indeed,  sometimes  enticed  me  from  my  work  ; 
but  that  was  seldom,  was  private,  and  gave  no  scandal ; 
and  to  show  that  I  was  not  above  my  business,  I  some 
times  brought  home  the  paper  I  purchased  at  the  stores, 
through  the  streets  on  a  wTheel-barrow.  Thus,  being 
esteemed  an  industrious,  thriving  young  man,  and  pay 
ing  duly  for  what  I  bought,  the  merchants  who  imported 
stationery  solicited  my  custom  ;  others  proposed  supply 
ing  me  with  books,  and  I  went  on  prosperously." 


176  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

RIVALS  IN  TRADE FRUITLESS  ATTEMPT  AT  MATCH-MA 
KING HE  MARRIES  MISS  READ LIBRARIES  STUD 
IES PROSPECTS. 

WHILE  Franklin  was  thus  prospering  in  business,  and 
growing  in  the  esteem  of  the  community,  Keimer,  his 
former  employer,  was  daily  losing  both  custom  and  cred 
it  ;  and  being  compelled  before  long  to  sell  out  his  whole 
stock  in  trade,  to  meet  the  demands  of  his  creditors,  he 
went  off  to  Barbadoes,  in  the  West  Indies,  where,  after 
several  years  of  poverty,  he  died  in  great  indigence. 

David  Harry,  who  has  already  been  mentioned  as  an 
apprentice  to  Keimer,  but  who  had  in  fact  been  taught 
his  trade  by  Franklin  while  working  in  Keimer's  office, 
was  the  person  who  bought  out  his  former  master,  and 
undertook  to  carry  on  the  same  business  himself.  Har 
ry's  friends  were  persons  of  considerable  property  and 
influence ;  and  when  he  commenced  business  on  his 
own  account,  Franklin  felt  no  little  solicitude  lest  his  own 
prosperity  should  be  seriously  checked  by  one  who  seem 
ed  likely  to  be  a  powerful  rival.  To  avoid  any  unfriend 
ly  competition,  which  could  only  prove  injurious  to  both, 
he  proposed  to  Harry  to  form  a  partnership.  This  pro 
posal,  however,  says  Franklin,  "he,  fortunately  for  me, 
rejected  with  scorn."  Harry's  foolish  pride,  expen 
sive  habits,  indulgence  in  amusements,  and  consequent 
neglect  of  business,  soon  involved  him  in  debt;  his  cus 
tomers  quit  him,  and  he  pretty  soon  followed  Keimer  to 


ATTEMPT    AT    MATCH-MAKING.  177 

Barbadoes,  taking  along  with  him  his  printing  appa 
ratus.  "  There,"  says  Franklin,  "  the  apprentice  em 
ployed  his  former  master  as  a  journeyman.  They  often 
quarrelled;  Harry  went  continually  behindhand;  and 
at  length  was  obliged  to  sell  his  types  and  return  to  coun 
try-work  in  Pennsylvania." 

Thus  ended  the  career  of  another  young  man,  whose 
means  and  opportunity  for  the  achievement  of  success 
in  business  and  a  respectable  standing  in  society,  were 
so  ample,  but  were  forfeited  by  his  follies  and  his  vices. 

These  events  left  in  Philadelphia  only  two  printing- 
offices,  Bradford's  and  Franklin's.  But  Bradford  was 
in  very  easy  circumstances ;  he  employed  only  a  few 
roving  journeymen  ;  did  but  little  business,  and  made 
no  effort  to  increase  it.  Still,  as  he  was  the  postmaster 
of  the  city,  it  was  taken  for  granted  that  his  means  both 
of  obtaining  news  and  circulating  advertisements,  must 
be  the  best ;  and  this  idea  gave  him  some  advantage 
over  his  competitor,  especially  as  he  had  ordered  his 
post-riders  not  to  carry  any  of  that  competitor's  papers. 
This  unneighborly  conduct  of  Bradford  gave  Franklin 
great  disgust ;  and  he  considered  it  so  unfair  and  mean- 
spirited,  that  afterward,  during  the  long  period  for 
which  he  had  the  management  of  the  same  postoffice, 
he  never  copied  so  unworthy  an  example. 

Franklin's  printing-office  was  on  the  second  floor  of 
his  own  house,  and  under  it,  on  the  first  floor,  was  his 
stationer's  shop,  one  side  of  which,  the  apartment  being 
pretty  large,  was  occupied  as  a  glazier's  shop,  by 
Thomas  Godfrey,  who,  with  his  family,  lived  in  the  same 
house,  and  with  whom  Franklin  still  continued  to  board. 
The  intimacy  which  grew  out  of  these  circumstances 
led  Mrs.  Godfrey  to  plan  a  match  between  Franklin  and 
one  of  her  young  relatives.  For  this  purpose  she  made 
opportunities  to  bring  them  frequently  together,  and  the 


178  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

consequence  was,  that  Franklin  soon  commenced  court 
ship  in  earnest;  especially  as  the  young  woman,  accord 
ing  to  his  own  testimony,  was  "  very  deserving."  Her 
parents,  also,  favored  the  courtship  by  "  continual  invi 
tations  to  supper,"  and  leaving  the  young  people  to  each 
other's  society. 

When,  in  due  time,  it  became  proper  that  all  the  par 
ties  concerned  should  come  to  a  definite  understanding 
on  this  subject,  Mrs.  Godfrey  was  employed  as  the  nego 
tiator.  Through  her  Franklin  gave  the  parents  distinct 
ly  to  understand  that  if  he  married  their  daughter,  he 
must  receive  with  her  a  sum  sufficient  to  pay  off  the  rem 
nant  of  debt,  estimated  by  him  at  a  hundred  pounds, 
which  he  still  owed  for  his  establishment.  To  this  mes 
sage  they  sent  back  for  answer  that  they  had  no  such 
amount  of  money  to  spare ;  upon  which  Franklin  sug 
gested  that  they  might  mortgage  their  house  and  lot  to 
the  loan-office. 

On  receiving  this  suggestion,  the  parents  took  some 
days  to  consider  the  expediency  of  the  match,  in  a  more 
business-like  way  ;  they  made  inquiries  of  Bradford  re 
specting  the  profits  and  general  character,  safety  and 
prospects  of  the  printer's  trade ;  and  when  they  had 
obtained  all  the  information  they  deemed  necessary  on 
these  points,  they  replied  that  printing,  as  they  were 
told,  was  not  a  productive  trade;  that  its  materials  were 
not  only  expensive,  but  necessarily  subject  to  great  wear 
and  tear,  and  that  fresh  supplies  were,  therefore,  needed 
at  short  intervals  ;  that  two  printers,  Keimer  and  Har 
ry,  had  recently  become  bankrupt  in  the  business,  and 
that  Franklin  was  himself  likely  soon  to  make  the  third. 
The  result  was,  that  they  forbid  Franklin's  visits  to  their 
house,  and  shut  up  their  daughter. 

On  this  final  reply  from  the  parents  Franklin  makes 
the  following  comment:  "  Whether  this  was,"  says  he, 


THE    ATTEMPTED    MATCH    FAILS.  179 

"a  real  change  of  sentiment,  or  only  an  artifice,  on  the 
supposition  of  our  being  too  far  engaged  in  affection  to 
retract,  and  that  therefore  we  should  steal  a  marriage, 
which  would  leave  them  at  liberty  to  give  or  withhold 
what  they  pleased,  I  know  not.  But  I  suspected  the 
motive,  resented  it,  and  went  no  more." 

The  conduct  of  the  parents,  as  presented  in  the  fore 
going  statement  to  the  mind  of  an  uninterested  reader, 
even  at  this  distance  of  time,  certainly  affords  some  rea 
son  for  Franklin's  suspicion  ;  and  that  reason  was 
strengthened,  in  his  opinion,  at  least,  by  the  account, 
which  Mrs.  Godfrey  subsequently  gave  him,  of  the  re 
turn  of  the  parents  to  more  friendly  views,  upon  the 
strength  of  which  she  urged  him  to  renew  his  visits  to 
the  young  woman.  He,  however,  avowed  his  fixed  de 
termination  to  have  no  further  intercourse  with  those 
people.  This  gave  such  offence  to  the  Godfreys,  that 
they  quit  Franklin's  house,  leaving  it  wholly  to  himself; 
and  he  thereupon  *'  resolved  to  take  no  more  inmates." 

Though  Mrs.  Godfrey's  attempt  at  match-making  fail 
ed  of  its  particular  object,  yet  it  served  to  turn  Frank 
lin's  thoughts  to  the  subject  of  marriage;  and  led  him 
to  seek  acquaintance  with  other  families.  It  was  not 
long,  however,  before  this  kind  of  intercourse  disclosed 
to  him  a  very  prevalent  impression  unfavorable  to  his 
trade,  as  a  means  of  accumulating  property  and  giving 
a  family  a  respectable  position  in  society  ;  and  that  he 
"  was  not  to  expect  money  with  a  wife,"  unless  it  should 
be  found  requisite  by  way  of  compensation  for  lack  of 
other  attractions.  But,  situated  as  he  was,  the  tempta 
tions  to  irregular  habits,  and  to  pernicious  as  well  as 
costly  pleasures,  were  numerous  and  strong ;  and  he  felt 
his  danger. 

The  most  neighborly  intercourse  had  been  maintained 
between  himself  and  the  family  of  the  Reads,  whose  at- 


180  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

tachment  to  him  had  suffered  no  abatement,  notwithstand 
ing  the  circumstances  which  had  prevented  his  union  with 
the  daughter.  He  stood,  in  fact,  on  the  most  intimate 
footing  with  them.  They  were  fond  of  his  society,  cher 
ished  his  friendship,  frequently  conferred  with  him  in  the 
most  confidential  manner  concerning  their  affairs,  and  he 
was  gratified  whenever  he  could  render  them  a  service. 

Miss  Read's  position,  meanwhile,  was  a  very  annoying 
one.  Though  her  marriage  with  the  worthless  Rogers, 
was  believed  void,  on  the  ground  that  he  had,  as  was  con 
fidently  alleged,  another  wife  living  at  the  time  in  Eng 
land,  yet  the  impediments  in  the  way  of  finding  out  the 
woman  and  procuring  proof  of  the  fact,  in  consequence 
of  the  distance  and  the  tardiness  of  communication  be 
tween  the  two  countries,  made  it  exceedingly  difficult  to 
show  the  invalidity  of  that  marriage  judicially ;  and 
though  it  was  reported  that  Rogers  himself  had  died 
within  a  few  years  after  he  absconded  from  Philadel 
phia,  yet  that  also  needed  proof,  or  at  least  such  a  lapse 
of  time  without  knowledge  of  him,  as  would  raise  a  le 
gal  presumption  of  the  fact. 

These  circumstances,  connected  with  the  disappoint 
ment  of  her  first  affection  and  hope,  weighed  heavily  on 
the  spirits  of  Miss  Read,  who  lost  her  native  cheerful 
ness  and  shunned  society  ;  and  as  Franklin  reflected  on 
what  he  saw,  he  could  not  escape  some  feeling  of  self- 
reproach  for  his  own  conduct,  as  having  indirectly  con 
tributed,  in  some  degree  at  least,  to  embitter  and  sadden 
the  condition  of  one,  for  whom  he  cherished  the  sin- 
cerest  esteem.  On  this  subject  he  makes  the  following 
frank  and  honest  confession  : — 

"  I  considered  my  giddiness  and  inconstancy  when  in 
London,"  says  he,  "  as  in  a  great  degree  the  cause  of 
her  unhappiness  ;  though  her  mother  was  good  enough 
to  think  the  fault  more  her  own  than  mine ;  as  she  had 


HE    MARRIES    MISS    READ.  181 

prevented  our  marrying  before  I  went  thither,  and  had 
persuaded  the  other  match  in  my  absence." 

The  two  young  people,  however,  meeting,  as  they  did 
almost  daily,  in  the  intimate  and  confidential  intercourse 
already  described,  soon  felt  their  affection  for  each  other 
reviving  ;  and  none  the  less  readily  and  warmly,  for  the 
dejection  and  sadness  of  the  one,  and  the  commisera 
ting  sympathy  of  the  other.  Indeed,  no  state  of  feeling 
in  the  two  parties  respectively,  could  be  imagined  more 
certain  to  revive  a  former  love,  or  kindle  a  new  one  ; 
and  as  the  allegations  respecting  the  former  marriage 
and  the  death  of  Rogers,  received  the  general  credence, 
they  determined  at  length  to  marry.  The  marriage 
took  place  on  the  1st  of  September,  1730.  Nothing  con 
nected  with  the  former  marriage  ever  occurred,  to  dis 
turb  the  tranquillity  of  this  union  ;  and  Franklin  closes 
his  relation  of  this  interesting  and  fortunate  transaction, 
by  testifying,  as  a  tribute  to  the  worth  of  his  bride,  that 
"  she  proved  to  be  a  good  and  faithful  help-mate,  and  as 
sisted  him  much  by  attending  to  the  shop  ;"  that  they 
"  throve  together,  and  ever  mutually  endeavored  to  make 
each  other  happy;"  finally  adding,  in  reference  to  his 
inconstancy  to  her,  while  he  was  in  London  :  "  Thus  I 
corrected  that  great  erratum  as  well  as  I  could." 

While  events  so  interesting  to  him,  in  his  private  re 
lations,  were  thus  taking  place,  Franklin  did  not  neglect 
to  avail  himself  of  such  means  of  improvement  in  knowl 
edge  and  mental  discipline  as  he  could  command,  and 
business  allowed  him  opportunity  to  make  use  of.  He 
continued  to  be  an  active  and  efficient  member  of  the 
Junto ;  and  as  the  meetings  of  that  club  had  been  trans 
ferred  from  the  tavern,  where  they  were  at  first  held,  to 
a  room  liberally  furnished  for  the  purpose  by  Robert 
Grace,  the  greater  privacy  and  security  of  this  arrange 
ment  led  Franklin  to  propose  that,  inasmuch  as  they  had 

16 


182  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

frequent  occasion,  in  their  discussions,  to  refer  to  the 
books  they  respectively  possessed,  they  should  make 
common  stock  of  them  by  depositing  them  in  the  club- 
room. 

This  proposal  was  adopted.  On  bringing  their  sev 
eral  parcels  together,  however,  the  collection  was  found 
considerably  less  than  had  been  anticipated  ;  and  the  in 
jury  which  befell  the  books  for  the  want  of  proper  care, 
the  readiness  with  which  the  members  of  a  small  club 
could  borrow  of  each  other,  and  the  advantages,  in  their 
circumstances  and  for  their  purposes,  of  having  such 
books  as  they  severally  possessed  always  at  hand,  over 
balanced  the  benefits  of  so  small  a  collection,  and  in 
duced  them,  at  the  end  of  a  twelvemonth  or  thereabouts, 
to  break  up  the  deposite. 

This  experiment,  nevertheless,  showed  that  such  col 
lections  might  be  rendered  eminently  useful,  if  made  on 
a  suitable  scale  and  placed  under  judicious  regulations. 
A  library  of  sufficient  extent  to  make  it  worth  while  to 
provide  for  the  proper  custody  and  care  of  the  books, 
would  not  only  be  exceedingly  useful  to  persons  already 
addicted  to  reading,  or  engaged  in  investigations,  which 
could  not  be  prosecuted  with  satisfaction,  or  success, 
without  the  aid  of  many  books  ;  but  it  might  also  be  ren 
dered  still  more  generally  beneficial  to  society,  by  pla 
cing  the  means  of  knowledge  within  convenient  reach 
even  of  persons  in  the  narrowest  circumstances  ;  and  by 
exciting  a  love  of  reading,  where  it  did  not  already  exist, 
especially  among  the  younger  members  of  the  commu 
nity,  who  might  be  thus  led  to  substitute  the  gratifica 
tion  and  benefit  to  be  derived  from  books,  in  place  of 
idle,  unprofitable,  and  pernicious  amusements. 

Considerations  of  this  kind  took  strong  hold  of  Frank 
lin's  mind  ;  and  their  influence  was  much  augmented  by 
observing  the  destitution  of  the  community  about  him, 


HE    FOUNDS    A    LIBRARY.  183 

in  relation  to  this  matter.  When  he  established  himself 
in  Philadelphia,  there  was  not,  as  he  states,  "a  good 
bookseller's  shop  anywhere  in  the  colonies  south  of  Bos 
ton.  The  printers  in  New  York  and  Philadelphia  were 
indeed  stationers,  but  they  sold  only  paper,  almanacs, 
ballads,  and  a  few  common  school-books.  Those  who 
loved  reading  were  obliged  to  send  for  their  books  to 
England." 

In  this  dearth  of  the  means  of  knowledge,  Franklin 
set  about  laying  the  foundation  of  a  library,  on  the  basis 
of  a  general  subscription.  For  this  purpose  he  drew 
up  a  plan,  with  provisions  for  such  a  management  of  the 
proposed  library,  as  he  thought  would  diffuse  its  bene 
fits  most  widely,  while  it  also  insured  a  proper  care  of 
the  books  ;  and  then  procured  Charles  Brockden,  "  a 
skilful  conveyancer,"  to  connect  therewith  the  terms  of 
subscription  in  such  legal  form  as  would  constitute  a 
valid  contract.  Forty  shillings  were  to  be  paid  down 
by  each  subscriber,  to  make  the  first  purchases  ;  and  ten 
shillings  yearly  thereafter,  for  the  annual  increase  of  the 
library.  Moderate  as  these  terms  were,  however,  "  so 
few,"  says  Franklin,  "  were  the  readers  at  that  time  in 
Philadelphia,"  and  most  of  them  "  so  poor,"  that  he 
"  was  not  able,  with  great  industry,  to  find  more  than 
fifty"  subscribers,  in  the  outset,  and  they  were  "  mostly 
young  tradesmen." 

The  fifty  subscriptions  of  forty  shillings  amounted  to 
one  hundred  pounds,  to  be  paid,  of  course,  in  the  local 
currency.  The  value  of  the  currency  as  compared  with 
silver  coin  is  not  stated.  At  the  rate  of  eight  shillings 
to  the  dollar,  (the  ultimate  rate  in  New  York,)  the  hun 
dred  pounds  would  be  only  two  hundred  and  fifty  dol 
lars  ;  but  as  the  Pennsylvania  currency  did  not  finally 
fall  below  the  rate  of  seven  shillings  and  sixpence,  and 
was,  at  the  time  now  spoken  of,  much  nearer  par,  the 


184  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

amount  in  dollars  was  somewhat  more  than  the  number 
mentioned.  "  With  this  little  fund,"  says  Franklin, 
"we  began.  The  books  were  imported;  the  library 
was  opened  one  day  in  the  week  for  lending  them  to 
subscribers,  on  their  promissory  notes  to  pay  double 
the  value,  if  not  duly  returned.  The  institution  soon 
manifested  its  utility,  was  imitated  in  other  towns,  and  in 
other  provinces.  The  libraries  were  augmented  by  do 
nations  ;  reading  became  fashionable  ;  and  our  people, 
having  no  public  amusements  to  divert  their  attention, 
became  better  acquainted  with  books,  and  in  a  few 
years  were  observed  by  strangers  to  be  better  instructed 
and  more  intelligent  than  people  of  the  same  rank  gen 
erally  in  other  countries." 

The  articles  of  subscription,  dated  on  the  1st  of  July, 
1731,  bound  the  signers  and  their  legal  representatives 
for  the  term  of  fifty  years ;  but  in  1742  they  were  super 
seded  by  a  charter  from  the  proprietaries  of  the  prov 
ince,  converting  the  library  association  into  a  permanent 
corporation,  with  Franklin  at  its  head. 

The  library  thus  founded  now  contains  one  of  the 
most  extensive  and  valuable  collections  of  books  in  this 
country  ;  and  its  principal  founder  had  the  satisfaction, 
in  1789,  fifty-eight  years  after  its  origin,  and  about  eight 
months  before  his  death,  to  see  the  foundation  laid  of  the 
spacious  edifice,  designed  expressly  for  it,  which  it  still 
occupies.  At  the  southeast  angle  of  this  edifice,  on  a 
stone  prepared  for  the  purpose  at  the  suggestion  of 
Franklin,  is  an  inscription,  written  by  him,  (except  the 
words  relating  to  himself,  inserted  by  another  hand,)  and 
purporting,  beside  the  dates,  to  be  "  in  honor  of  the 
Philadelphia  youth,  then  chiefly  artificers,"  who  '•  cheer 
fully,  at  the  instance  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  one  of  their 
number,  instituted  the  Philadelphia  Library."  The 
front  of  the  building  is  adorned  with  a  statue  of  Frank- 


A    USEFUL    LESSON.  185 

lin  in  marble,  executed  in  Italy,  at.  the  expense  of  Wil 
liam  Bingham,  an  opulent  citizen  of  Philadelphia. 

Before  leaving  this  subject  it  would  be  wrong  to  omit 
recording  here  a  lesson,  which  Franklin  learned  while 
engaged  in  recommending  the  library  project,  and  in 
soliciting  subscriptions  for  it.  The  lesson,  though  it  is 
one  of  no  little  practical  value,  in  relation  both  to  self- 
discipline  and  to  the  successful  persuasion  of  olhers,  is 
also  one,  which  the  self-esteem  of  most  of  us  renders  it 
by  no  means  easy  to  practise.  Franklin  has  left  this 
lesson  behind  him  in  the  following  passage  : — 

"  The  objections  and  reluctances  I  met  with,"  says 
he,  "  in  soliciting  subscriptions,  made  me  soon  feel  the 
impropriety  of  presenting  one's  self  as  the  proposer  of 
any  useful  project,  which  might  be  supposed  to  raise 
one's  reputation,  in  the  smallest  degree,  above  that  of 
one's  neighbors,  when  one  has  need  of  their  assistance 
to  accomplish  that  project.  I  therefore  put  myself,  as 
much  as  I  could,  out  of  sight,  and  stated  it  as  a  scheme 
of  a  number  of  friends,  who  had  requested  me  to  go 
about  and  propose  it  to  such  as  they  thought  lovers  of 
reading.  In  this  way  my  affair  went  on  more  smoothly, 
and  I  ever  after  practised  it  on  such  occasions ;  and 
from  my  frequent  successes  can  heartily  recommend  it. 
The  present  little  sacrifice  of  your  vanity  will  afterward 
be  amply  repaid.  If  it  remains  awhile  uncertain  to 
whom  the  merit  belongs,  some  one  more  vain  than  your 
self  may  be  encouraged  to  claim  it,  and  then  even  envy 
will  be  disposed  to  do  you  justice,  by  plucking  those  as 
sumed  feathers  and  restoring  them  to  their  right  owner." 

This,  assuredly,  is  one  of  the  modes,  in  which  a  man 
may  lawfully  apply  the  injunction  to  "  be  wise  as  the 
serpent,  and  harmless  as  the  dove." 

The  new  library  being  opened,  no  one  made  more 
faithful  use  of  it  than  Franklin.  To  avail  himself  most 

16* 


186  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

successfully  of  its  advantages  he  systematically  devoted 
a  portion  of  every  day  to  study,  and  eagerly  strove  to 
supply,  as  fully  as  he  could,  his  deficiencies  in  those 
higher  parts  of  learning,  to  which  the  "  bookish  inclina 
tion"  of  his  boyhood  seemed  then  to  entitle  him,  but 
which  the  scantiness  of  his  father's  means  constrained 
him  in  his  youth  to  forego.  He  squandered  none  even 
of  the  fragments  of  his  time,  in  taverns,  or  other  resorts 
of  the  frivolous  and  idle.  His  personal  attendance  upon 
his  business  gave  him  all  the  bodily  exercise  needful  to 
health  j  and  his  studies,  to  which  he  went  with  a  relish 
rendered  all  the  keener  by  the  labors  of  the  day,  be 
came  his  highest  and  most  coveted  enjoyment. 

Besides  the  vigilance  and  industry  constantly  demand 
ed  to  protect  and  extend  his  business,  in  the  midst  of  a 
jealous  competition,  and  to  enable  him  to  meet  the  pay 
ments  yet  due  for  his  establishment,  he  now  had  a  family 
for  which  it  was  his  duty  to  provide  not  merely  subsist 
ence,  but  instruction,  an  honest  training,  and  a  respecta 
ble  position  in  society.  These  considerations,  however, 
never  depressed  his  spirits,  or  operated  as  discourage 
ments.  On  the  contrary,  so  far  from  enfeebling  him, 
they  only  acted  as  invigorating  incitements  to  his  man 
ly  and  hopeful  nature ;  and  as  he  found  his  means 
steadily  increasing,  and  saw  the  confidence  and  esteem 
of  the  community  toward  him  daily  extending,  the  con 
sciousness  of  successful  effort  and  justly  appreciated 
character,  must  have  rendered  this  period  one  of  the 
very  happiest  of  his  life. 

In  his  own  account  of  this  period,  Franklin  remarks 
that  his  father  had  frequently  repeated  to  him,  when  a 
boy,  the  saying  of  Solomon  — "  Seest  thou  a  man  dili 
gent  in  his  calling,  he  shall  stand  before  kings"  —  and 
that  this  had  led  him  to  consider  industry  as  a  means  of 
gaining  wealth  and  distinction.  This  gave  him  courage  ; 


DOMESTIC    CONCORD.  187 

and  though  he  had,  at  the  time,  no  anticipation  of  the 
literal  verification  of  the  proverb  in  his  own  case,  yet 
he  did,  in  fact,  verify  it  as  fully,  probably,  as  any  person 
that  ever  lived,  of  an  equally  humble  origin;  for  in  the 
course  of  his  long  career  he  stood  before  jive  kings,  with 
one  of  whom,  the  king  of  Denmark,  he  sat  at  dinner, 
while  that  monarch  was  on  a  visit  at  Paris,  during  Frank 
lin's  residence  there  as  the  diplomatic  representative  of 
his  country  —  a  greater  sovereignty  than  Denmark. 

Time  soon  showed  Franklin  how  great  a  boon  was 
his  wife,  and  how  material  was  her  co-operation,  in  se 
curing  prosperity.  Quoting  the  old  proverb — "He 
that  would  thrive  must  ask  his  wife"  —  he  congratulates 
himself  on  having  "  one  as  much  disposed  to  industry 
and  frugality,"  as  he  was ;  and  in  his  business,  which, 
more  than  most  other  occupations,  furnishes  employment 
well  suited  to  females,  "  she  cheerfully  assisted  in  fold 
ing  and  stitching  pamphlets,  in  tending  shop,"  and  in  all 
the  various  indoor  details  of  their  trade. 

Their  household  affairs,  also,  were  placed  on  a  ration 
al  and  economical  footing,  suited  to  their  means,  and 
managed  with  careful  frugality,  yet  without  foregoing  a 
single  real  comfort.  "  We  kept,"  says  Franklin,  "  no  idle 
servants;  our  table  was  plain  and  simple  ;  and  our  furni 
ture  of  the  cheapest."  His  own  breakfast  long  consisted 
merely  of  "bread  and  milk,  (no  tea,)  taken  from  a  two 
penny  earthen  porringer,  with  a  pewter  spoon."  But, 
as  he  smilingly  adds,  "  mark  how  luxury  will  enter  fam 
ilies,  and  make  progress  in  spite  of  principle;"  for,  go 
ing  one  morning  to  his  favorite  breakfast,  he  unexpect 
edly  "  found  it  in  a  China  bowl  with  a  spoon  of  silver !" 
His  wife,  it  appears,  had  prepared  this  amiable  surprise 
for  him,  at  her  own  cost,  as  a  token  of  her  affection  ;  and 
he  playfully  remarks  that  "  she  had  no  other  excuse,  or 
apology,  to  make,  but  that  she  thought  her  husband  de- 


188  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN     FRANKLIN. 

served  a  silver  spoon  and  a  China  bowl,  as  well  as  any 
of  his  neighbors."  These  were  the  first  articles  of  plate 
and  China  in  the  family,  and  they  gradually  accumula 
ted  to  the  amount  finally  of  several  hundred  pounds. 

This  is  a  pleasing  picture,  not  merely  of  frugality  and 
thrift,  but  of  cheerful  diligence  and  domestic  concord; 
and  if  oftener  copied  in  these  days  of  greater  seeming 
affluence,  would  secure  to  many  an  ambitious  young 
household,  the  respect,  confidence,  success,  and  happi 
ness,  they  so  eagerly  desire,  but  so  frequently  miss.  And 
the  frugality  which  Franklin  practised,  as  well  as  taught, 
was  not  the  mean  parsimony  of  a  niggard  disposition. 
This  has  been  sometimes  imputed  to  him ;  but  such  an 
imputation  does  him  the  grossest  injustice.  Not  to  in 
sist  on  the  readiness  with  which  he  put  his  hand  into 
pocket  for  casual  alms,  or  even  the  extent  to  which,  more 
generous  than  discreet,  he  supplied  the  unworthy  neces 
sities  of  Collins  and  Ralph,  even  to  his  own  inconveni 
ence,  when  he  had  nothing  but  the  earnings  of  his  daily 
labor  to  bestow,  and  when  the  prospect  of  repayment 
was  far  too  hopeless  to  influence  him  in  any  degree  — 
to  say  nothing  of  these  instances,  the  ungrudging  liber 
ality  with  which  he  provided  for  his  family,  as  his  means 
accumulated  ;  his  bounty,  through  life,  to  his  poorer  rela 
tives  ;  and  the  uncalculating  and  patriotic  promptitude, 
with  which  he  aided  the  public  service  with  his  credit 
and  money  both,  should  for  ever  silence  all  imputationo 
of  the  kind  mentioned. 

No  :  Franklin's  frugality  proceeded  from  a  high  sense 
of  duty.  It  was  the  legitimate  fruit  and  conclusive 
proof  of  his  honesty,  and  of  a  just  sentiment  of  self-re 
spect  and  manly  independence.  Twenty-five  years  old, 
not  yet  free  of  debt,  and  with  a  family  to  provide  for, 
he  was  pursuing  an  occupation  which  was  not  capable 
of  producing  large  results  in  short  periods,  or  by  fortu- 


REASONS  OF  HIS  FRUGALITY.  189 

nate  adventures,  but  yielded  its  gains  only  by  small  de 
grees,  to  steady  diligence  and  patient  perseverance ; 
and  in  which,  while  two  persons  failed  before  his  eyes, 
he  still  had  competitors,  and  could  not  safely  count  upon 
employment  more  than  enough,  at  best,  for  a  very  mod 
erate  and  slow  accumulation  beyond  the  current  expenses 
of  a  decent  livelihood. 

Frugality,  and  even  parsimony,  when  practised  for 
such  reasons,  should  always  be  held  in  honor;  and  that 
such  were  the  true  motives  of  Franklin's  frugality,  is 
fully  confirmed  by  some  rules,  which,  about  this  time,  he 
drew  up  for  his  guidance.  Among  these  rules,  some  of 
which  bound  him  to  the  strictest  veracity  and  sincerity 
on  all  occasions,  and  others  to  the  habitual  avoidance  of 
all  censorious  and  uncharitable  speech  concerning  other 
people,  there  are  two  which  bear  directly  on  the  point 
under  consideration.  In  one  of  these,  he  states  the  ne 
cessity  of  his  being  "extremely  frugal"  till  his  debt  was 
paid  ;  and  the  other  testifies  to  his  good  sense  by  re 
solving  to  attend  closely  to  whatever  he  might  under 
take,  and  not  permit  his  mind  to  be  "  diverted  from  his 
business,  by  any  foolish  project  of  growing  suddenly 
rich;"  inasmuch  as  "industry  and  patience  are  the 
surest  means  of  plenty." 

In  connection  with  this  view  of  Franklin's  domestic 
condition,  at  the  commencement  of  house-keeping,  as  at 
the  opening  of  a  new  act  in  the  drama  of  life,  he  has 
left  in  his  autobiography  a  characteristically  frank  and 
honest  account  of  his  religious  and  moral  sentiments  and 
habits ;  and  as  it  is  somewhat  more  explicit,  as  well  as 
less  eccentric  in  some  respects,  than  the  view  presented 
in  the  paper  entitled,  "  Articles  of  Belief  and  Acts  of  Re 
ligion,"  already  noticed,  the  substance  of  this  account  is 
here  given. 

His  parents  were  Calvinists,  and  while  he   remained 


190  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

with  them,  he  was  trained  accordingly.  Some  of  then- 
tenets,  however,  seemed  to  him  unintelligible,  or  doubt 
ful  ;  but  certain  doctrines,  or  principles,  which  form  the 
basis,  in  part  at  least,  of  every  religous  creed,  he  held 
with  an  unfeigned  faith.  "  I  never  doubted,"  says  he, 
"  the  existence  of  a  Deity  ;  that  he  made  the  world  and 
governed  it  by  his  providence;  that  the  most  acceptable 
service  of  God  was  the  doing  good  to  man ;  that  our 
souls  are  immortal ;  and  that  all  crimes  will  be  punished, 
and  virtue  rewarded,  either  here,  or  hereafter." 

Deeming  these,  as  he  says,  the  essentials  of  every  re 
ligion,  and  finding  them  in  all  the  creeds  of  the  country, 
he  respected  them  all,  though  in  different  degrees,  ac 
cording  to  the  admixture  of  other  doctrines  having  no 
tendency,  as  he  thought,  to  nourish  a  sound  morality,  but 
serving  rather  to  promote  division  and  embitter  contro 
versy.  These  sentiments,  joined  to  a  belief,  moreover, 
that  even  such  religious  views  as  seemed  to  him  most 
mingled  with  error,  were  far  more  wholesome  in  their 
practical  influence,  than  no  acknowledgment  of  religious 
obligation  in  any  form,  led  him  to  abstain  from  every 
thing  calculated  to  impair  the  confidence  of  any  person 
in  the  value  of  his  religious  opinions,  or  to  blunt  his  re 
ligious  sensibility  ;  and  as  the  growing  population  of  the 
province  called  for  a  greater  number  of  houses  for  pub 
lic  worship,  he  never  refused  his  contribution  to  the  sub 
scriptions  by  which  they  were  usually  erected. 

He  considered  public  worship  and  the  regular  preach 
ing  of  a  settled  ministry  capable  of  being  rendered  emi 
nently  useful  to  society  ;  but  he  thought  their  usefulness, 
in  point  of  fact,  greatly  diminished  by  the  generally 
sectarian  and  polemical  character  of  the  preaching; 
and  though  he  regularly  paid  a  liberal  yearly  subscrip 
tion  to  the  support  of  the  only  Presbyterian  clergyman 
then  in  Philadelphia,  yet  he  did  not  often  attend  his 


SCHEME    OF    MORAL    PERFECTION.  191 

meetings,  for  the  reason  just  mentioned.  On  this  ac 
count  the  clergyman,  with  whom  he  lived  on  terms  of 
uninterrupted  good  neighborhood,  occasionally  remon 
strated  with  him;  and  after  one  of  these  friendly  admo 
nitions  Franklin  was  induced  to  attend  public  worship 
five  Sundays  in  succession.  But  the  sermons  he  heard 
wrere  so  exclusively  occupied  with  controversy  about 
points  of  dispute  between  different  sects;  and  fell  so  far 
short,  as  it  seemed  to  Franklin,  of  making  that  varied 
and  beneficent  use  of  the  Scriptures,  for  which,  as  he 
thought,  they  were  designed,  and  of  which  they  are  so 
capable,  for  the  guidance  of  life  and  the  elevation  of 
character,  that,  finding  himself  not  edified,  he  ceased 
further  attendance  upon  the  preaching  of  this  clergyman, 
and  resorted  again  to  his  private  devotions,  in  the  form 
he  had  some  years  before  prepared  for  himself,  as 
already  related.  His  own  account  of  this  matter  he 
closes  with  the  following  frank  declaration  :  "  My  con 
duct,"  says  he,  "  might  be  blameable ;  but  I  leave  it, 
without  attempting  further  to  excuse  it ;  my  present  pur 
pose  being  to  relate  facts,  not  to  make  apologies  for 
them." 

Another  remarkable  event  in  Franklin's  mental  his 
tory  occurred  at  this  stage  in  the  progress  of  his  opin 
ions,  and  of  his  inner  life.  This  was  the  conception  of 
a  plan  for  attaining  moral  perfection.  The  desire  took 
possession  of  him  "to  live  without  committing  any 
fault  at  any  time  ;"  and  by  rigorous  and  vigilant  self- 
discipline,  to  hold  in  check  and  finally  overcome  all  the 
tendencies  and  incitements  to  moral  transgression, 
"  either  in  natural  inclination,  or  custom,  or  company." 
Supposing  himself  to  understand  clearly  the  distinc 
tions  of  right  and  wrong,  in  all  cases  presented  to  his 
moral  judgment,  or  conscience,  it  seemed  to  him  prac 
ticable  to  do  right  in  one  case  as  certainly  as  in  another ; 


192  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

in  other  words,  to  follow  his  convictions  of  duty,  and  do 
right,  or  avoid  wrong,  in  all  cases. 

Although  Franklin  had,  beyond  doubt,  given  far  more 
time  and  earnest  thought,  than  is  usual  with  either  the 
young  or  the  mature,  to  the  momentous  duty  of  self- 
examination,  yet  such  conceptions  and  desires  as  have 
just  been  mentioned,  while  they  betoken  high  endow 
ments,  noble  aspirations,  and  the  upward  bent  of  his 
moral  nature,  show  also,  we  think,  not  only  the  inexpe 
rience,  but  the  over-confidence  of  a  young  man,  and  a 
self-knowledge,  or  perhaps  more  correctly,  a  knowledge 
of  human  nature,  still  very  partial  and  imperfect.  Arid 
this  he  soon  had  occasion  to  perceive,  as  he  does  him 
self  very  candidly  confess. 

"  I  soon  found,"  says  he,  "  that  I  had  undertaken  a 
task  of  far  more  difficulty  than  I  had  imagined.  While 
my  attention  was  taken  up  and  my  care  employed  in 
guarding  against  one  fault,  I  was  often  surprised  by  an 
other  ;  habit  took  advantage  of  inattention;  inclination 
was  sometimes  too  strong  for  reason.  I  concluded  at 
length,  that  the  mere  speculative  conviction  that  it  was 
our  interest  to  be  completely  virtuous,  was  not  sufficient 
to  prevent  our  slipping ;  and  that  the  contrary  habits 
must  be  broken,  and  good  ones  acquired  and  established, 
before  we  can  have  any  dependence  on  a  steady  and  uni 
form  rectitude  of  conduct." 

Perseverance,  however,  and  a  strong  tenacity  of  pur 
pose,  were  among  the  most  marked  traits  of  his  charac 
ter  ;  and  instead  of  abandoning,  in  weak  caprice,  his 
idea  of  moral  perfection,  he  determined  to  persist  in  the 
endeavor  to  realize  at  least  some  portion  of  what  he 
might  not  be  able  fully  to  accomplish.  For  this  pur 
pose  he  drew  up  a  schedule  of  the  moral  virtues,  so  di 
gested  and  arranged  as  to  include  under  each  as  a  gen 
eral  head,  such  ideas  as  are  clear  and  practical,  and  such 


SCHEDULE     OF    VIRTUES.  193 

points  of  conduct  as  are  unquestionably  binding  on  the 
conscience  ;  avoiding  all  fanciful  views  of  moral  obliga 
tion  drawn  from  fine-spun  theories,  and  placing  his  sys 
tem  of  positive  duties  on  the  broad  and  solid  ground  of 
common  sense. 

His  schedule  arranged  the  moral  virtues  under  thir 
teen  titles,  or  heads,  with  a  brief  precept  annexed  to 
each,  to  assist  his  mind  more  promptly  to  recognise  the 
general  nature  of  the  particular  virtue,  and  the  leading 
points  of  conduct  embraced  within  its  scope.  This 
schedule  was  as  follows  : — 

1.  TEMPERANCE. —  Eat  not  to  dulness  ;   drink  not  to 
elevation. 

2.  SILENCE. —  Speak  not  but  what  may  benefit  others, 
or  yourself;  avoid  trifling  conversation. 

3*.  ORDER. —  Let  all  your  things  have  their  places  ;  let 
each  part  of  your  business  have  its  time. 

4.  RESOLUTION. —  Resolve  to  perform  what  you  ought ; 
perform  without  fail  what  you  resolve. 

5.  FRUGALITY. —  Make  no  expense  but  to  do  good  to 
others,  or  yourself;  that  is,  waste  nothing. 

6.  INDUSTRY. —  Lose  no  time  ;  be  always  employed  in 
something  useful ;  cut  off  all  unnecessary  actions. 

7.  SINCERITY. —  Use    no    hurtful  deceit;  think  inno 
cently  and  justly;  and,  if  you  speak,  speak  accordingly. 

8.  JUSTICE. —  Wrong  none  by  doing  injuries,  or  omit 
ting  the  benefits  that  are  your  duty. 

9.  MODERATION. —  Avoid  extremes  ;  forbear  resenting 
injuries  so  much  as  you  think  they  deserve. 

10.  CLEANLINESS. — Tolerate  no  uncleanliness  in  body, 
clothes,  or  habitation. 

11.  TRANQUILLITY. —  Be  not  disturbed  at  trifles,  or  at 
accidents,  common  or  unavoidable. 

12.  CHASTITY. 

13.  HUMILITY. —  Imitate  Jesus,  and  Socrates. 

1.7 


194  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

His  process  for  accomplishing  this  plan,  was  to  un 
dertake,  in  the  outset,  one  virtue  at  a  time,  leaving  the 
others  meanwhile  to  his  ordinary  observance  of  them ; 
and  to  take  them  up,  also,  in  the  order  in  which  the  ac 
quirement  of  one,  would  most  facilitate  the  acquisition 
of  another.  On  this  principle  he  arranged  his  list.  He 
placed  temperance  first,  because,  although  a  remarkably 
temperate  man,  in  the  common  acceptation  of  the  term, 
he  would  cultivate  that  virtue  in  its  largest  and  worthi 
est  sense,  and  because,  by  giving  him  the  fullest  and 
most  constant  command  of  all  his  faculties,  it  would  better 
prepare  him  for  continual  watchfulness  against  tempta 
tion  and  the  force  of  bad  habits,  and  for  the  cultivation 
of  other  virtues.  Silence  was  fitly  placed  next,  not  only 
because  the  control  of  the  tongue  is  more  readily  attain 
ed,  when  temperance  in  all  things  has  become  habitual, 
but  because,  also,  in  our  intercourse  with  others,  knowl 
edge  is  to  be  gained  by  listening,  rather  than  by  talk 
ing.  And  thus  he  proceeded  through  the  entire  list,  the 
arrangement  of  which,  does  great  credit  to  his  philo 
sophical  discrimination,  and  his  apprehension  of  moral 
relations. 

To  enable  himself  the  better  to  pursue  this  plan  of 
improvement,  he  framed  a  moral  account  book,  in  which 
he  opened  an  account  with  the  several  virtues  on  his  list. 
Each  page  was  ruled  with  seven  columns,  and  at  the 
head  of  each  column  was  placed  the  name  of  a  day. 
These  were  crossed  with  thirteen  lines,  and  at  the  left 
end  of  each  was  entered  the  name  of  one  of  the  thirteen 
virtues,  in  the  order  of  the  list.  The  pages  thus  ruled 
were  also  thirteen  in  number,  and  at  the  head  of  each 
page  was  written  the  name  of  the  virtue,  which  was  to 
be  the  object  of  special  attention  for  any  one  week.  On 
each  virtue-line,  and  in  the  day-column,  was  to  be  a 
mark  for  every  infraction  of  that  virtue,  during  that  day. 


OPENS    A    MORAL    ACCOUNT-BOOK.  195 

When  the  virtue  placed  at  the  head  of  the  page  as  the 
particular  object  of  the  week,  showed  a  clean  line  at  the 
end  of  the  week,  then  he  was  to  pass  on  to  the  special 
account  with  the  virtue  at  the  head  of  the  next  page. 
Thus  a  full  course  with  all  the  virtues  on  the  list,  would 
run  through  thirteen  weeks,  making  room  for  four  such 
courses  in  a  year. 

To  this  moral  account-book  he  prefixed  three  mottoes, 
or  inscriptions,  in  praise  of  virtue;  and  as  they  serve  to 
reflect,  at  least  a  ray  of  light  on  the  range  of  study, 
which  this  never-idle  and  much-thinking  young  trades 
man  had  been  quietly  yet  earnestly  pursuing,  we  copy 
them.  The  first  one  was  taken  from  the  celebrated  so 
liloquy  of  Addison's  Cato. 

"  Here  will  I  hold.     If  there's  a  Power  above  us  — 
And  that  there  is,  all  Nature  cries  aloud 
Through  all  her  works  —  He  must  delight  in  virtue, 
And  that  which  He  delights  in,  must  be  happy." 

The  next  was  from  Cicero's  admirable  work  entitled, 
"  De  Officiis" — that  is,  a  treatise  on  the  Moral  Duties. 

"O,  vitse  philosophise  dux!  O,  virtutum  indagatrix 
expultrixque  vitiorum  !  Unus  dies,  bene  et  ex  preceptis 
tuis  actus,  peccanti  immortalitati  est  anteponendus."  * 

The  third  inscription  was  from  the  proverbs  of  Solo 
mon,  where  he  personifies  virtue,  or  righteousness,  under 
the  name  of  Wisdom. 

"  Length  of  days  is  in  her  right-hand,  and  in  her  left- 
hand  riches  and  honor.  Her  ways  are  ways  of  pleas 
antness,  and  all  her  paths  are  peace." 

And  furthermore,  to  use  his  own  words,  "  conceiving 
God  to  be  the  fountain  of  wisdom,"  he  "  thought  it  right 

*  As  many  of  the  readers  for  whom  this  book  is  more  particularly  pre 
pared,  do  not  read  Latin,  this  motto  may  be  expressed  iu  English  thus: 
"  O,  philosophy,  guide  of  life,  tracer  of  virtue  and  expeller  of  vice !  A  sin 
gle  day,  well  spent  in  obedience  to  thy  precepts,  is  better  than  a  sinful  im 
mortality." 


196  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

and  necessary  to  solicit  His  assistance  for  obtaining  it." 
He,  therefore,  prefixed  to  these  tables  of  self-examina 
tion  a  short  prayer,  composed  by  himself,  for  daily  use. 
In  this  he  addresses  God  as  a  bountiful  and  good  father, 
and  a  merciful  guide,  asking  of  him  wisdom  and  strength 
of  spirit  to  discern  and  perform  his  duties ;  and  that  his 
kind  offices  to  his  fellow-creatures  might  be  accepted 
as  some  return  for  the  favors  extended  to  himself. 

In  this  course  of  self-discipline  he  persevered  for  a 
long  time  with  scrupulous  exactness ;  and  though  he  in 
genuously  confesses  that  he  felt  surprised  at  the  number 
of  his  faults,  yet  he  declares  that  he  was  in  some  degree 
recompensed  by  seeing  them  gradually  become  less  fre 
quent.  For  the  first  few  years  the  four  cycles  of  thir 
teen  weeks  each,  were  duly  accomplished  within  the 
year,  in  strict  accordance  with  the  plan.  After  a  while, 
however,  a  single  course  occupied  a  whole  year ;  and 
finally,  his  accumulating  private  affairs,  and  still  more 
his  employments  in  the  public  service,  sending  him  to 
and  fro,  by  land  and  sea,  compelled  him  wholly  to  re 
linquish  this  particular  form  of  self-discipline ;  though 
he  always  kept  his  account-book  with  him. 

Of  all  the  virtues  in  his  list,  Order,  and  especially  that 
rule  of  order,  which  requires  a  place  for  everything  and 
everything  in  its  place,  gave  him,  he  says,  the  most  trou 
ble.  This  arose  partly  from  his  becoming  more  and 
more  subject  to  the  varying  convenience  of  others,  in 
the  transactions  of  his  growing  business ;  but  still  more 
from  not  having  been  trained  to  such  habits  when  young. 
Being  blessed  with  a  tenacious  memory,  he  did  not  be 
come  fully  aware  of  the  value  of  habitual  order  in  the 
details  of  all  occupations,  until  advancing  age  began  to 
diminish  the  readiness  and  precision  of  his  recollection. 

The  difficulty  in  question  annoyed  him  so  much,  that 
he  was  sometimes  tempted  to  renounce  his  resolution  of 


THE    SPECKLED    AXE.  197 

amendment,  in  order  to  get  rid  of  the  struggle  and  res 
cue  his  self-esteem  from  mortification  at  being  no  better 
able  to  control  his  habits  in  this  particular  direction. 
To  exemplify  his  feelings,  in  regard  to  this  matter,  he 
relates  an  anecdote  to  the  following  effect. 

A  man  having  bought  an  axe  of  a  blacksmith,  wished 
him  to  make  the  whole  surface  of  the  axe  as  bright  as 
the  bit.  This  the  smith  was  ready  to  do,  if  the  man 
would  turn  the  giindstone  by  which  alone  his  wish  could 
be  gratified.  The  man  began  to  turn,  and  the  smith  to 
grind,  pressing  the  broad  face  of  the  axe,  with  all  the 
force  of  his  strong  arms,  against  the  biting  stone.  The 
man  pretty  soon  beginning  to  feel  a  lively  curiosity  to 
see,  from  time  to  time,  how  the  brightening  proceeded, 
kept  quitting  the  crank  to  look  at  the  axe,  and  at  length 
concluded  to  take  it  as  it  was.  "  No,  no,"  said  the 
smith,  "  turn  on,  turn  on;  we  shall  have  the  whole  axe 
bright  by-and-by  ;  as  yet  it  is  only  speckled."  "  Yes," 
said  the  man,  "  but  I  think  I  like  a  speckled  axe  best." 

And  so  —  as  the  anecdote  is  applied — so  it  is  with 
many  a  person,  who  undertakes  to  reform  his  habits 
and  burnish  his  character.  Surprised  at  the  diffi 
culty  of  the  task,  he  soon  gives  it  up,  concluding  that 
"  a  speckled  axe  is  best ;"  and  in  a  vein  of  pithy  irony, 
Franklin  shows,  from  his  own  experience,  how  ready 
self-indulgence  is  to  find  excuses,  by  remarking  that 
"  something  that  pretended  to  be  reason,  kept  suggesting 
that  extreme  nicety  might  be  a  kind  of  foppery  in  mor 
als,  and  provoke  ridicule  ;  that  a  perfect  character  might 
incur  the  inconvenience  of  being  envied  and  hated  ;  and 
that  a  benevolent  man  should  allow  some  faults  in  him 
self,  to  keep  his  neighbors  in  countenance." 

But  still,  though  Franklin  found  himself  unable  to 
reach  that  high  point  of  Order,  which  he  had  been  so 
ambitious  to  attain,  yet,  as  he  avers,  his  endeavors  in 

17* 


198  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

that  direction,  contributed  to  render  him  a  better  and 
happier  roan,  than  he  would  have  been,  had  he  not  made 
those  endeavors.  To  his  own  account  of  his  efforts  at 
self-improvement,  and  of  the  somewhat  artificial  plan 
upon  which  he  pursued  his  object,  he" has  annexed  the 
following  impressive  remarks  : — 

"  It  may  be  well,"  says  he,  "  that  my  posterity  should 
be  informed  that  to  this  little  artifice,  with  the  blessing 
of  God,  their  ancestor  owed  the  constant  felicity  of  his 
life,  down  to  his  79th  year,  in  which  this  is  written. 
What  reverses  may  attend  the  remainder,  is  in  the  hand 
of  Providence  ;  but  if  they  arrive,  the  reflection  on  past 
happiness  enjoyed,  ought  to  help  him  bear  them  with 
resignation.  To  Temperance  he  ascribes  his  long-con 
tinued  health,  and  what  is  still  left  to  him  of  a  good 
constitution ;  to  Industry  and  Frugality,  the  early  easi 
ness  of  his  circumstances  and  acquisition  of  his  fortune, 
with  all  that  knowledge  that  enabled  him  to  be  a  useful 
citizen,  and  obtained  for  him  some  degree  of  reputation 
among  the  learned ;  to  Sincerity  and  Justice,  the  confi 
dence  of  his  country  and  the  honorable  employs  it  con 
ferred  upon  him;  and  to  the  joint  influence  of  the  whole 
mass  of  the  virtues,  even  in  the  imperfect  state  he  was 
able  to  acquire  them,  all  that  evenness  of  temper,  and 
cheerfulness  in  conversation,  which  make  his  company 
still  sought  for,  and  agreeable  even  to  his  young  acquaint 
ance.  I  hope  that  some  of  my  descendants  may  follow 
the  example,  and  reap  the  benefit." 

It  was  Franklin's  original  design  to  extend  the  little 
tabular  book  described,  by  adding  a  commentary  on 
each  of  the  virtues  in  the  list,  more  fully  to  explain  its 
positive  advantages,  as  well  as  the  certain  disadvantages 
of  the  correlative  vices  ;  and  thus  to  furnish,  for  the  use 
of  others,  especially  the  young,  a  manual,  which,  inas 
much  as  it  was  to  point  out  the  practical  methods  of 


THE    ART     OF    VIRTUE.  199 

forming  habits  of  virtue,  and  not  be  simply  preceptive, 
or  speculative,  was  to  be  entitled  "The  Art  of  Virtue." 
With  this  purpose  in  view  he  collected  a  considerable 
mass  of  materials  in  the  form  of  hints  and  remarks, 
made  from  time  to  time,  in  the  course  of  his  reading  and 
observation ;  but  the  increase  of  business,  and  his  accu 
mulating  engagements  in  the  most  important  public  af 
fairs,  prevented  the  execution  of  the  intended  commen 
tary. 

The  contemplated  manual  was,  moreover,  connected, 
in  Franklin's  mind,  with  another  and  far  more  compre 
hensive  plan  he  had  conceived  for  carrying  into  wider 
effect  his  views  of  moral  culture,  through  the  instrumen 
tality  of  an  association,  to  be  regularly  organized  and  to 
act  on  society  at  large.  But  as  this  chapter  has  already 
exceeded  the  usual  limit,  we  must  defer  to  the  next,  the 
account,  which  it  is  deemed  necessary  to  give  of  what 
he  styles  the  "  great  and  extensive  project"  referred  to. 


200  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

PROJECT  FOR  PROMOTING    VIRTUE ALMANAC  OF  RICHARD 

SAUNDERS. 

FROM  what  has  already  been  said  it  is  plain  that 
Franklin's  mind,  at  this  period  of  his  life,  had  become 
deeply  impressed  with  the  duty  and  advantage  of  self- 
discipline ;  of  directing  his  thoughts  and  efforts  to  wor 
thy  ends  ;  and  of  training  his  faculties,  both  intellectual 
and  moral,  to  the  attainment  of  those  ends  by  just  and 
beneficent  means ;  such  means  as  should  reconcile  and 
harmonize  his  own  interests  with  the  interests  of  his  fel 
low-men,  and  present  a  genuine  exemplification  of  the 
doctrine  that  "true  seTflove  and  social,  are  the  same;" 
or,  as  the  same  doctrine  had  long  before  been  announced, 
on  the  very  highest  authority,  in  the  golden  rule  requir 
ing  every  one  of  us  to  "  do  unto  others  as  we  would  have 
others  to  do  unto  us."  He  believed  this  to  be  the  only 
way  to  secure  any  real  happiness,  and  that  no  qualities  are 
so  likely  to  advance  a  poor  man's  fortune  in  the  world, 
as  veracity  and  integrity. 

That  he  strove,  with  unfeigned  earnestness,  to  correct 
his  faults  and  train  himself  to  the  habitual  practice  of 
virtue,  is  evident,  not  only  from  the  general  tenor  of  his 
life  and  the  personal  respect  in  which  he  was  held,  but  is 
particularly  and  beautifully  evinced  by  his  candor  and 
docility  in  receiving  admonition,  of  which  the  following 
anecdote  presents  a  good  example.  His  list  of  virtues, 
as  he  relates,  contained  at  first  but  twelve.  A  Quaker 


HIS  DEFERENTIAL  MANNER  IN  CONVERSATION.        201 

friend  of  his  frankly  told  him  one  day,  that  he  was  gen 
erally  considered  proud,  and  in  conversation  sometimes 
overbearing  and  insolent,  several  instances  of  which  were 
called  to  Franklin's  remembrance.  He  acknowledged 
the  justice  of  the  admonition,  and  added  Humility  to  the 
list  of  virtues,  to  be  particularly  cultivated.  He  con 
fesses  that  unremitting  watchfulness  was  at  first  neces 
sary,  to  break  the  offending  habit,  especially  when  en 
gaged  in  animated  discussion ;  yet  perseverance  was  at 
length  crowned  with  success  ;  and  then  he  found  "  the 
advantage  of  this  change  in  his  manners."  It  not  only 
made  intercourse  at  all  times  more  agreeable,  but  it  pro 
cured  "  a  readier  reception  of  his  opinions,  when  right, 
and  less  mortification,  when  wrong." 

There  is,  indeed,  no  one  point  in  manners  and  gen 
eral  deportment,  which  he  has  so  frequently  urged,  as  the 
language  and  tone  of  unassuming  deference,  in  conver 
sation,  and  in  reasoning  with  others  for  the  purpose  of 
changing  their  opinions,  or  procuring  their  co-operation. 
To  this  deferential  manner,  connected  with  the  preva 
lent  confidence  in  his  integrity,  he  expressly  ascribes  his 
influence  with  his  fellow-citizens,  and  in  deliberative  as 
semblies  ;  for  he  was,  as  he  declares,  but  a  "  bad  speak 
er,  hesitating  in  his  choice  of  words,  and  never  elo 
quent;"  and  yet  he  "generally  carried  his  point." 

The  good  sense  of  these  remarks  is  obvious ;  but  his 
modesty,  nevertheless,  has  suppressed  one  reason  quite 
as  efficient  as  any,  in  procuring  him  influence,  and  a 
ready  adoption  of  his  views ;  and  that  reason  was  to  be 
found  in  the  sound  judgment  and  sagacious  forethought 
by  which  his  views  were  usually  distinguished. 

But  Franklin's  desires,  on  the  great  subject  of  moral 
improvement,  were  not  limited  to  his  own  personal  ben 
efit  and  that  of  the  individuals  immediately  connected 
with  him,  or  of  the  single  community  in  which  his  lot 


202  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

was  cast.  He  felt  an  honest  zeal  to  see  the  spread  of 
such  improvement  in  all  communities,  until  its  purifying 
and  elevating  influences  should  be  everywhere  manifest ; 
and  he  believed  that  much  might  be  done  toward  the 
actual  attainment  of  so  great  an  end,  by  a  thorough  and 
persevering  application  of  the  principle  of  voluntary 
co-operation,  in  the  form  of  an  association  organized  on 
the  basis  of  a  few  comprehensive  elementary  truths,  in 
which  all  soberminded  and  earnest  men  could  agree,  and 
which  could  be  everywhere  received  for  the  regulation 
of  social  action  as  well  as  individual  conduct. 

The  organization  of  such  an  association  was  the 
"  great  and  extensive  project"  already  alluded  to.  The 
original  conception  of  this  scheme  is  traced  to  a  paper  con 
taining  some  observations,  suggested  to  his  mind  by  his 
historical  reading,  and  dated  at  the  library,  May  9th, 
1731.  These  observations  were  stated  in  the  form  of 
general  inferences,  and  their  purport  was,  that  the  af 
fairs  of  all  nations,  including  wars  and  revolutions,  were 
conducted  by  parties,  acting  for  their  own  supposed  in 
terests,  and  that  all  confusion  in  those  affairs  resulted 
from  the  opposing  views  of  such  parties  ;  that  under 
cover  of  their  general  objects,  individual  members 
were  aiming  at  their  own  particular  interests,  and  that 
when  a  party  collectively  had  attained  its  ends,  it 
was  soon  broken  into  factions  by  the  clashing  of  those 
personal  interests ;  that  only  a  few  public  men  have 
acted  with  a  single  eye  to  the  public  good,  and  that 
when  their  acts  have,  in  fact,  promoted  that  end,  it 
has  generally  been  because  that  good  has  happened 
to  harmonize  with  their  own  personal  objects,  not 
because  their  motives  were  disinterested  and  benev 
olent  •  that  still  fewer  public  men  have  acted  with  dis 
tinct  views  to  the  common  welfare  of  mankind ;  and 
that,  as  a  general  conclusion  from  the  whole  of  these 


PLAN    FOR    PROMOTING    VIRTUE.  203 

premises,  there  was  need  of  an  organized  party  for  the 
promotion  of  virtue,  to  be  formed  of  the  good  men  of 
all  nations,  and  governed  by  suitable  rules,  which  such 
men  would  be  likely  to  obey  more  uniformly  than  the 
mass  of  men  obey  the  laws  of  the  land.  To  these  ob 
servations  he  subjoined  a  declaration  of  his  belief,  that 
if  such  a  plan  should  be  attempted,  in  the  right  spirit, 
by  a  properly-qualified  person,  it  would  prove  accepta 
ble  to  God,  and  be  crowned  with  success. 

Such  were  some  of  the  ideas  and  convictions,  which 
this  self-educated  tradesman  had,  at  the  age  of  twenty-five 
years,  drawn  from  history.  They  indicate  a  thoughtful 
and  earnest  mind,  much  insight  into  the  ways  and  mo 
tives  of  men,  and  those  generous  aspirations  for  the 
moral  advancement  of  the  race,  which  betoken  a  benev 
olent  and  fervent  spirit. 

It  should  be  remarked  that  when  this  project  first  pre 
sented  itself  to  his  mind,  he  did  not  purpose  to  enter  at 
once  upon  the  attempt  to  execute  it.  He  was  not  then 
in  a  condition  to  do  so  ;  but  he  meditated  on  it  as  a  work 
to  be  attempted  when  his  circumstances  should  give  him 
the  requisite  leisure  ;  making  notes,  meanwhile,  of  such 
thoughts  as  occurred  to  him  from  time  to  time,  in  rela 
tion  to  it,  and  to  the  mode  of  putting  it  into  operation. 
During  his  long  residence  abroad,  those  notes,  made  on 
detached  pieces  of  paper,  got  scattered ;  and  when,  af 
ter  his  final  return  home  from  Europe,  he  came  to  write 
the  account  of  this  period  of  his  life,  only  one  of  those 
pieces  could  be  found.  That  one  contained  a  memoran 
dum  of  the  general  truths  which  he  had  supposed  might 
properly  serve  as  a  basis  of  the  association,  and  help  to 
give  it  unity  and  cohesion. 

The  contemplated  association,  it  should  be  borne  in 
mind,  was  not  to  be  confined  to  one  community,  or  a 
single  country,  but  was  to  be  extended  through  many, 


204  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

with  the  design  of  ultimately  embracing  all ;  at  least  all 
those  leading  nations,  whose  power  and  influence,  if 
united,  would  comprehend  and  sway  the  more  impor 
tant  social  movements  of  the  whole  of  Christendom,  and 
at  last  of  the  whole  world.  The  general  basis,  therefore, 
on  which  the  organization  was  to  rest,  should  include, 
as  he  thought,  only  such  truths,  as  were  recognised 
among  the  elemental  principles  of  every  system  of  re 
ligion,  and  not  repugnant  to  any.  Those  truths,  or 
principles,  as  stated  by  himself,  were  the  following : — 

"  That  there  is  one  God,  who  made  all  things ;  that 
he  governs  the  world  by  his  providence ;  that  he  ought 
to  be  worshipped  by  adoration,  prayer,  and  thanksgiv 
ing  ;  that  the  most  acceptable  service  to  God,  is  doing 
good  to  man  ;  that  the  soul  is  immortal ;  and  that  God 
will  certainly  reward  virtue,  and  punish  vice,  either  here, 
or  hereafter." 

As  to  the  incipient  proceedings,  his  idea  was  that  only 
young  and  single  men  should  associate,  in  the  outset ; 
that  every  applicant  for  membership  should,  as  prepara 
tory  to  admission,  exercise  himself  in  the  course  of  self- 
discipline  already  described  in  "  The  Art  of  Virtue," 
and  at  his  initiation  should  declare  his  assent  to  the 
general  truths  above  stated  ;  that  the  association  should 
be  kept  secret,  till  it  could  get  well  agoing  and  acquire 
some  eolidity,  so  as  to  be  able  to  exercise  firmly  a  just 
discrimination  in  reference  to  applicants  for  admission; 
but  that  any  member,  nevertheless,  might  disclose  the 
enterprise  to  such  individuals  as  he  should  personally 
know  to  be  men  of  sense  and  virtue.  It  was,  also,  to  be 
made  one  of  the  duties  of  the  associates,  to  promote  the 
just  interests  of  one  another.  As  to  a  name,  he  had  se 
lected  that  of  "  The  Society  of  the  Free  and  Easy;" 
his  reason  for  it  being,  in  substance,  that,  by  the  virtues 
to  be  practised  they  would  be  freed  from  the  dominion 


PRACTICABILITY    OP    THE    PLAN.  205 

of  vice,  and,  especially,  kept  free  from  the  bondage  of 
debt,  and  easy  in  point  of  property,  by  their  habits  of 
industry  and  frugality. 

Such  was  this  philanthropic  project,  as  nearly  as 
Franklin  could  recall  his  first  conceptions  of  it,  after 
the  lapse  of  more  than  half  a  century.  Though  the  "  nar 
rowness  of  his  circumstances,"  at  the  time,  and  his  pub 
lic  labors  afterward,  rendered  any  attempt  on  his  part, 
to  arrange  the  machinery  necessary  to  set  the  plan  at 
work,  impossible,  yet  he  never  ceased  to  regard  it  as 
practicable.  The  "  seeming  magnitude  of  the  under 
taking,"  as  he  expressly  states,  offered  to  his  mind  no 
discouragement ;  for  he  held  that  one  man  of  sound  un 
derstanding  and  a  persevering  temper,  aiming  at  good 
ends  by  just  means,  can  work  great  changes  in  human 
affairs,  if  he  will  but  devote  all  his  powers  to  some  one 
distinct  object. 

In  relation  to  the  practicability  of  the  plan,  however, 
opinions  will  probably  differ  ;  and  yet,  before  pronoun 
cing  against  the  scheme,  on  this  ground  alone,  it  might 
well  be  deemed  prudent  to  pause,  in  view  of  what  the 
world,  since  its  entrance  upon  the  present  century,  has 
seen  accomplished  by  societies,  organized  on  the  same 
principle  of  voluntary  co-operation,  for  the  morals  and 
manners  of  great  national  communities,  as  well  as  for  oth 
er  benevolent  and  religious  purposes.  Still,  though  the 
principle  of  action  in  all  these  cases  is  the  same,  there  is 
a  difference,  which  seems  to  be  an  important  one  in  its 
practical  bearings,  between  applying  the  principle  to 
some  one  specific  and  clearly-defined  object,  as  in  the 
Temperance  movement,  for  example,  and  the  applica 
tion  of  the  same  principle  to  a  whole  list  of  virtues  and 
vices,  or  the  entire  range  of  moral  action. 

We  think,  moreover,  that  the  very  element  in  this 
project,  to  which  its  projector  looked  chiefly  for  its  suc- 

18 


206  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

cess,  would  have  been  found  to  be  the  chief  obstacle  to 
its  acceptance.  We  refer  to  its  neutrality  in  regard  to 
every  specific  form  of  religion.  Men  generally,  we  ap 
prehend,  are  most  tenacious  of  precisely  those  points  in 
their  creeds  on  which  they  differ  from  all  others,  and  for 
the  sake  of  which  alone  are  they  adopted.  This  we  sup 
pose  to  be  true,  even  among  sects  of  the  same  general 
system  of  faith.  But,  in  the  case  before  us,  from  the 
platform  of  general  truths  is  excluded  everything  pecu 
liar,  not  merely  to  different  sects  claiming  a  common  ori 
gin,  but  to  that  entire  system  of  religion  which  is  re 
ceived,  not  merely  as  true,  but  as  inspired,  throughout  all 
Christendom;  and  which,  moreover,  notwithstanding  the 
many  ways  in  which  it  has  been  perverted,  experience, 
to  say  nothing  of  diviner  sanctions,  has  shown  to  be  the 
surest  support  of  a  pure  and  stable  morality,  and  there 
fore,  as  we  believe,  the  best  and  only  undeceitful  guide 
to  those  benign  results  which  the  contemplated  project 
purposed  to  attain.  Instead,  therefore,  of  attracting  mem 
bers,  or  co-operation  in  any  form,  from  the  professors  of 
Christianity,  among  whom,  after  all  reasonable  conces 
sions  on  the  score  of  unfaithfulness,  have  been  found,  in 
every  age,  the  most  earnest,  steadfast,  and  efficient  pro 
moters  of  practical  virtue,  the  neutrality  mentioned  would, 
we  are  persuaded,  have  constituted  their  invincible  ob 
jection  to  the  whole  scheme. 

Nevertheless,  whatever  may  be  the  just  conclusion 
upon  these  points,  it  will  be  admitted,  we  presume,  that 
the  reflections  out  of  which  this  project  grew,  and  the 
benefits  purposed  by  the  projector,  give  ample  evidence, 
not  only  of  benevolent  motives  and  an  honorable  zeal  for 
the  welfare  of  society,  but  of  enlightened  views  of  some 
of  the  most  important  lessons  taught  by  the  previous  ex 
perience  and  actual  condition  of  mankind. 

About  this  time,  however,  Franklin  undertook  another 


HIS    ALMANAC.  207 

work,  unquestionably  practical  in  its  whole  character, 
and  of  unequivocal  utility ;  one  which  operated  with  pal 
pable  benefit  on  the  general  habits  of  the  community,  ex 
tended  his  own  reputation  and  influence,  and  contributed 
materially  to  his  pecuniary  advantage.  This  was  the  pub 
lication,  under  the  name  of  Richard  Saunders,  of  the 
almanac,  which  afterward  became  so  celebrated  and  pop 
ular  as  "  Poor  Richard's  Almanac."  He  issued  the  first 
one  of  the  annual  series  on  the  19th  of  December,  1732, 
when  he  was  drawing  near  the  end  of  the  twenty-seventh 
year  of  his  age  ;  and  he  continued  the  publication  for 
about  twenty-five  years  :  the  number  of  copies  for  each 
year,  during  most  of  that  period,  amounting  to  nearly 
ten  thousand. 

The  character  which  he  gave  to  this  publication  pre 
sents  conclusive  proof  of  his  desire  to  do  good,  and  of  his 
fidelity  to  the  principles  of  sound  morality  and  the  max 
ims  of  an  honest  life.  Passing  as  it  did,  year  after  year, 
into  many  thousand  families,  very  many  of  them  being 
exceedingly  limited  in  their  pecuniary  means,  having  few 
or  none  of  the  advantages  of  education,  and  engaged  in 
occupations  too  full  of  labor  to  allow  more  than  occasion 
al  and  scanty  opportunity  for  obtaining  information  from 
books,  such  a  publication  as  Franklin  furnished  them 
was  iindoubedly  valuable  to  them  as  a  vehicle  of  instruc 
tion  ;  and  he  availed  himself  of  it  for  that  purpose  with 
such  benevolent  assiduity,  so  judiciously,  and  with  such 
marked  success,  that  in  the  course  of  four  or  five  weeks 
after  the  first  issue,  it  became  necessary  to  print  three 
editions  of  the  very  first  number.  And  although,  in  sub 
sequent  years,  the  first  edition  for  the  year  was  greatly 
enlarged,  yet  still  further  issues  became  frequently  ne 
cessary  to  supply  the  demand  for  it. 

One  of  the  features  of  this  almanac  which  rendered  it 
at  that  day  most  attractive  and  useful,  was  the  great  mini- 


208  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

ber  of  maxims  of  practical,  proverbial  wisdom,  with  which 
its  pages  were  richly  stored.  "  I  filled,"  says  he,  "  all 
the  little  spaces  that  occurred  between  the  remarkable 
days  in  the  calendar,  with  proverbial  sentences  ;  chiefly 
such  as  inculcated  industry  and  frugality  as  the  means  of 
procuring  wealth,  and  thereby  securing  virtue  ;  it  being 
more  difficult  for  a  man  in  want  to  act  always  honestly, 
as,  to  use  here  one  of  those  proverbs,  "  It  is  hard  for  an 
empty  sack  to  stand  upright" 

When  about  to  relinquish  the  publication  of  his  alma 
nac,  he  gathered  these  scattered  maxims  together,  and  in 
order  to  render  them  more  permanently  useful,  he  wove 
them  into  a  regular  discourse,  supposed  to  have  been  de 
livered  by  an  aged  man  to  a  company  of  both  sexes  at  a 
public  auction.  This  discourse  he  entitled  "  The  Way 
to  Wealth,"  and  prefixed  it  to  the  last  number  of  his  al 
manac,  published  for  the  year  1757.  It  soon  appeared 
in  all  the  colonial  newspapers  ;  and  on  reaching  England, 
it  was  printed  on  one  large  sheet,  to  be  hung  against  the 
wall  of  a  room,  that  "  the  way  to  wealth"  might  always 
be  in  sight,  and  spread  all  over  the  British  islands.  It 
was,  moreover,  translated  into  French  twice  (in  1773  and 
1778)  during  Franklin's  life,  and  once  at  least,  after  his 
death.  Of  each  of  these  translations  several  editions  were 
issued,  and  the  clergy  and  gentry  distributed  the  copies 
gratuitously  in  great  numbers  among  the  poorer  classes. 
Besides  all  this,  in  1823,  when  the  Greeks  had  entered 
into  their  struggle  for  national  independence,  "  The  Way 
to  Wealth"  was  published  at  Paris  for  distribution  among 
them,  with  a  brief  account  of  the  author,  in  Romaic,  or 
modern  Greek. 

The  performance  in  question  is  so  celebrated,  contains 
so  much  of  the  common  sense  and  practical  wisdom  of 
past  ages,  and  its  maxims  are  so  well  fitted  for  the  daily 
guidance  of  common  life,  that  it  is  transcribed  here,  in 


THE    WAY    TO    WEALTH.  209 

full,  as  being  essential  to  one  of  the  leading  purposes  of 
this  book. 


THE   WAY   TO   WEALTH, 

As  clearly  shown  in  the  Preface  of  an  old  Pennsylvania  Almanac,  entitled, 
"  Poor  Richard  Improved." 

COURTEOUS  READER  :  I  have  heard  that  nothing  gives 
an  author  so  great  pleasure  as  to  find  his  works  respect 
fully  quoted  by  others.  Judge,  then,  how  much  I  must 
have  been  gratified  by  an  incident  I  am  going  to  relate 
to  you.  I  stopped  my  horse  lately  where  a  great  number 
of  people  were  collected  at  an  auction  of  merchants* 
goods.  The  hour  of  the  sale  not  being  come,  they  were 
conversing  on  the  badness  of  the  times  ;  and  one  of  the 
company  called  to  a  plain,  clean  old  man,  with  white 
locks  —  "  Pray,  Father  Abraham,  what  think  you  of  the 
times  1  Will  not  these  heavy  taxes  quite  ruin  the  coun 
try  1  How  shall  we  ever  be  able  to  pay  them1?  What 
would  you  advise  us  to?"  Father  Abraham  stood  up 
and  replied,  "  If  you  would  have  my  advice,  I  will  give 
it  you  in  short ;  for  A  word  to  the  wise  is  enough,  as 
Poor  Richard  says."  They  joined  in  desiring  him  to 
speak  his  mind,  and  gathering  round  him,  he  proceeded 
as  follows : — 

"  Friends,"  said  he,  "  the  taxes  are  indeed  very  heavy, 
and  if  those  laid  on  by  the  government  were  the  only 
ones  we  had  to  pay,  we  might  more  easily  discharge 
them ;  but  we  have  many  others,  and  much  more  griev 
ous  to  some  of  us.  We  are  taxed  twice  as  much  by  our 
idleness,  three  times  as  much  by  our  pride,  and  four 
times  as  much  by  our  folly  ;  and  from  these  taxes  the 
commissioners  can  not  ease  or  deliver  us,  by  allowing  an 
abatement.  However,  let  us  hearken  to  good  advice, 
and  something  may  be  done  for  us ;  for  God  helps  them 
that  help  themselves,  as  Poor  Richard  says. 
18* 


210  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

"  I.  It  would  be  thought  a  hard  government  that  should 
tax  its  people  one  tenth  of  their  time,  to  be  employed  in 
its  service  ;  but  idleness  taxes  many  of  us  much  more  ; 
sloth,  by  bringing  on  diseases,  absolutely  shortens  life. 
Sloth,  like  rust,  consumes  faster  than  labor  wears  ;  while 
the  used  key  is  always  bright,  as  Poor  Richard  says.  But 
dost  thou  love  life  ?  then  do  not  squander  time,  for  that  is 
the  stuff  life  is  made  of,  as  Poor  Richard  says.  How 
much  more  than  is  necessary  do  we  spend  in  sleep,  for 
getting  that  The  sleeping  fox  catches  no  poultry,  and  that 
There  will  be  sleeping  enough  in  the  grave,  as  Poor  Rich 
ard  says. 

"  If  time  be  of  all  things  the  most  precious,  wasting  time 
must  be,  as  Poor  Richard  says,  the  greatest  prodigality  ; 
since,  as  he  elsewhere  tells  us,  Lost  time  is  never  found 
again  ;  and  what  we  call  time  enough,  always  proves  little 
•enough.  Let  us  then  up  and  be  doing,  and  doing  to  the 
purpose  ;  so,  by  diligence,  shall  we  do  more  with  less 
perplexity.  Sloth  makes  all  things  difficult,  but  industry 
all  easy  ;  and  He  that  riseth  late  must  trot  all  day,  and 
shall  scarce  overtake  his  business  at  night ;  while  Laziness 
travels  so  slowly  that  Poverty  soon  overtakes  him.  Drive 
thy  business,  let  not  that  drive  thee  ;  and  Early  to  bed  and 
early  to  rise,  makes  a  man  healthy,  wealthy,  and  wise,  as 
Poor  Richard  says. 

"  So,  what  signifies  wishing  and  hoping  for  better 
times  ?  We  may  make  these  times  better,  if  we  bestir 
ourselves.  Industry  need  not  wish  ;  and  he  that  lives  up 
on  hopes  will  die  fasting.  There  are  no  gains  without 
pains  ;  Then  help,  hands,  for  I  have  no  lands  :  or  if  I 
have,  they  are  smartly  taxed.  He  that  hath  a  trade  hath 
an  estate  ;  and  He  that  hath  a  calling  hath  an  office  of 
profit  and  honor,  as  Poor  Richard  says ;  but  then  the 
trade  must  be  worked  at,  and  the  calling  followed,  or 
neither  the  estate  nor  the  office  will  enable  us  to  pay 


INDUSTRY    AND    VIGILANCE.  211 

our  taxes.  If  we  are  industrious  we  shall  never  starve ; 
for  At  the  working-man 's  house  hunger  looks  in,  but  dares 
not  enter.  Nor  will  the  bailiff  or  the  constable  enter,  for 
Industry  pays  debts,  while  despa  ir  increaseth  them .  Wh at 
though  you  have  found  no  treasure,  nor  has  any  rich  re 
lation  left  you  a  legacy,  Diligence  is  the  mother  of  good 
luck,  and  God  gives  all  things  to  industry.  Then  Plough 
deep  while  sluggards  sleep,  and  you  shall  have  corn  to  sell 
and  to  keep.  Work  while  it  is  called  to-day,  for  you 
know  not  how  much  you  may  be  hindered  to-morrow. 
One.  to-day  is  worth  two  to-morrows,  as  Poor  Richard 
says  ;  and  further,  Never  leave  that  till  to-morrow,  which 
you  can  do  to-day.  If  you  were  a  servant,  would  you 
not  be  ashamed  that  a  good  master  should  catch  you 
idle  1  Are  you  then  your  own  master1?  Be  ashamed  to 
catch  yourself  idle,  when  there  is  so  much  to  be  done  for 
yourself,  your  family,  and  your  country.  Handle  your 
tools  without  mittens,  remembering  that  The  cat  in  gloves 
catches  no  mice,  as  Poor  Richard  says.  It  is  true  there 
is  much  to  be  done,  and  perhaps  you  are  weak-handed; 
but  stick  to  it  steadily,  and  you  will  see  great  effects  ;  for 
Constant  dropping  wears  away  stones  ;  and  By  diligence 
and  patience  the  mouse  ate  in  two  the  cable  ;  and  Little 
strokes  fell  great  oaks. 

"  Methinks  I  hear  some  of  you  say,  '  Must  a  man  af 
ford  himself  no  leisure  V  I  will  tell  thee,  my  friend, 
what  Poor  Richard  says  :  Employ  thy  time  well,  if  thou 
meanest  to  gain  leisure  ;  and  Since  thou  art  not  sure  of  a 
minute,  throw  not  away  an  hour.  Leisure  is  time  for 
doing  something  useful.  This  leisure  the  diligent  man 
will  obtain,  but  the  lazy  man  never ;  for  A  life  ofleistire 
and  a  life  of  laziness  are  two  things.  Many,  without  la 
bor,  woidd  live  by  their  wits  only,  but  they  break  for  want 
of  stock  ;  whereas,  industry  gives  comfort,  and  plenty, 
and  respect.  Fly  pleasures,  and  they  will  follow  you. 


212  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

The  diligent  spinner  has  a  large  shift;  and  Now  I 
have  a  sheep  and  a  cow,  everybody  bids  me  good-mor 
row. 

"  II.  But  with  our  industry  we  must  likewise  be  steady, 
settled,  and  careful ;  and  oversee  our  own  affairs  with  our 
own  eyes,  and  not  trust  too  much  to  others ;  for,  as  Poor 
Richard  says  — 

/ 

/  never  saw  an  of t  removed  tree, 
Nor  yet  an  oft-removed  family, 
That  throve  so  well  as  those  that  settled  be. 

And  again,  Three  removes  are  as  bad  as  ajlre  ;  and  again, 
Keep  thy  shop,  and  thy  shop  will  keep  thee  ;  and  again, 
If  you  would  have  your  business  done,  go  ;  if  not,  send  ; 
and  again  — 

He  that  by  the  plough  would  thrive, 
Himself  must  either  liold  or  drive. 

And  again,  The  eye  of  a  master  will  do  more  work  than 
both  his  hands  ;  and  again,  Want  of  care  does  us  more 
damage  than  want  of  knowledge  ;  and  again,  Not  to  over 
see  workmen,  is  to  leave  them  your  purse  open.  Trusting 
too  much  to  others'  care  is  the  ruin  of  many ;  for  In  the 
affairs  of  THIS  world  men  are  saved,  not  by  faith,  but  by 
the  want  of  it ;  but  a  man's  own  care  is  profitable  ;  for, 
If  you  would  have  a  faithful  servant,  and  one  that  you 
like,  serve  yourself.  A  little  neglect  may  breed  great 
mischief;  for  want  of  a  nail  the  shoe  was  lost ;  for  want 
of  a  shoe  the  horse  was  lost ;  for  want  of  a  horse  the  rider 
was  lost,  being  overtaken  and  slain  by  the  enemy  ;  all  for 
want  of  a  little  care  about  a  horse-shoe  nail. 

"  III.  So  much  for  industry,  my  friends,  and  attention 
to  one's  own  business.  But  to  these  we  must  add  fru 
gality,  if  we  would  make  our  industry  more  certainly 
successful.  A  man  may,  if  he  knows  not  how  to  save  as 
he  gets,  keep  his  nose  all  his  life  to  the  grindstone,  and 


FRUGALITY.  213 

die  not  worth  a  groat  at  last.  A  fat  kitchen  maizes  a  lean 
will;  and  — 

Many  estates  are  spent  in  the  getting, 

Since  women  for  tea,  forsook  spinning  and  knitting, 

And  men  for  punch,  forsook  hewing  and  splitting. 

If  you  would  be  wealthy,  think  of  saving  as  well  as  of 
getting.  The  Indies  have  not  made  Spain  rich,  because 
her  outgoes  are  greater  than  her  incomes. 

"  Away,  then,  with  your  expensive  follies,  and  you  will 
not  then  have  so  much  cause  to  complain  of  hard  times, 
heavy  taxes,  and  chargeable  families;  for  — 

Women  and  wine,  game  and  deceit, 

Make  the  wealth  small,  and  the  want  great. 

And  further —  Wrkat  maintains  one  vice,  would  bring  up 
two  children.  You  may  think,  perhaps,  that  a  little  tea, 
or  a  little  punch,  now  and  then,  or  diet  a  little  more  costly, 
clothes  a  little  finer,  and  a  little  entertainment  now  and 
then,  can  be  no  great  matter ;  but  remember,  Many  a 
little  makes  a  mickle.  Beware  of  little  expenses.  A 
small  leak  will  sink  a  great  ship,  as  Poor  Richard  says  ; 
and  again —  Who  dainties  love,  shall  beggars  prove  ;  and, 
moreover,  Fools  make  feasts,  and  wise  men  eat  them. 

"  Here  you  are  all  got  together  at  this  sale  of  fineries 
and  knick-knacks.  You  call  them  goods  ;  but  if  you  do 
not  take  care,  they  will  prove  evils  to  some  of  you.  You 
expect  they  will  be  sold  cheap ;  and  perhaps  they  may 
be,  for  less  than  they  cost ;  but,  if  you  have  no  occasion 
for  them,  they  must  be  dear  to  you.  Remember  what 
Poor  Richard  says  :  Buy  what  thou  hast  no  need  of,  and 
ere  long  thou  shalt  sell  thy  necessaries.  And  again  —  At 
a  great  pennyworth  pause  a  while.  He  means  that  per 
haps  the  cheapness  is  apparent  only,  and  not  real ;  or  the 
bargain,  by  straitening  thee  in  thy  business,  may  do  thee 
more  harm  than  good.  For  in  another  place  he  says  — 
Many  have  been  ruined  by  buying  good  pennyworths. 


214  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

Again  —  It  is  foolish  to  lay  out  money  in  a  purchase  of 
repentance ;  and  yet  this  folly  is  practised  every  day  at 
auctions,  for  want  of  minding  the  Almanac.  Many  a  one, 
for  the  sake  of  finery  on  the  back,  has  gone  with  a  hun 
gry  belly,  and  half-starved  his  family.  Silks  and  satins, 
scarlet  and  velvets,  put  out  the  kitchcn-Jire,  as  Poor  Rich 
ard  says. 

"  These  are  not  the  necessaries  of  life ;  they  can  scarce 
ly  be  called  the  conveniences  ;  and  yet,  only  because  they 
look  pretty,  how  many  want  to  have  them  !  By  these 
and  other  extravagances,  the  genteel  are  reduced  to  pov 
erty,  and  forced  to  borrow  of  those  they  formerly  de 
spised,  but  who,  through  industry  and  frugality,  have 
maintained  their  standing ;  in  which  case  it  appears 
plainly  that  A  ploughman  on  his  legs  is  higher  than  a 
gentleman  on  his  knees,  as  Poor  Richard  says.  Perhaps 
they  have  had  a  small  estate  left  them,  which  they  knew 
not  the  getting  of.  They  think,  It  is  day,  and  will  never 
be  night;  that  a  little  to  be  spent  out  of  so  much,  is  not 
worth  minding ;  but  Always  taking  out  of  the  meal-tub, 
and  never  putting  in,  soon  comes  to  the  bottom,  as  Poor 
Richard  says  ;  and  then,  When  the  well  is  dry,  they  know 
the  worth  of  water.  But  this  they  might  have  known 
before,  if  they  had  taken  his  advice.  If  you  would  know 
the  value  of  money,  go  and  try  to  borrow  some  ;  for  He 
that  goes  a  borrowing,  goes  a  sorrowing,  as  Poor  Richard 
says ;  and  indeed  so  does  he,  that  lends  to  such  people, 
when  he  goes  to  get  it  again.  Poor  Richard  further  ad 
vises  and  says  — 

Fond  pride  of  dress  is  sure  a  very  curse ; 
Ere  fancy  you  consult,  consult  your  purse. 

And  again  —  Pride  is  as  loud  a  beggar  as  Want,  and  a 
great  deal  more  saucy.  When  you  have  bought  one  fine 
thing,  you  must  buy  ten  more,  that  your  appearance  may 
be  all  of  a  piece ;  but  Poor  Richard  says,  It  is  easier  to 


THE    SLAVERY    OF    DEBT.  215 

suppress  the  first  desire,  than  to  satisfy  all  that  follow  it. 
And  it  is  as  truly  a  folly  for  the  poor  to  ape  the  rich,  as 
for  the  frog  to  swell  in  order  to  equal  the  ox. 

Vessels  large  may  venture  more ; 
But  little  boats  should  keep  near  shore. 

It  is,  however,  a  folly  soon  punished  ;  for,  as  Poor  Rich 
ard  says,  Pride  tliat  dines  on  vanity,  sups  on  contempt. 
Pride  breakfasted  with  Plenty,  dined  with  Poverty,  and 
supped  with  Infamy.  And  after  all,  of  what  use  is  this 
pride  of  appearance,  for  which  so  much  is  risked  and  suf 
fered  1  It  can  not  promote  health,  nor  ease  pain ;  it 
makes  no  increase  of  merit  in  the  person  ;  it  creates  envy; 
it  hastens  misfortune. 

"  But  what  madness  must  it  be  to  run  into  debt  for  these 
superfluities  !  We  are  offered,  by  the  terms  of  this  sale, 
six  months'  credit ;  and  that,  perhaps,  has  induced  some 
of  us  to  attend  it,  because  we  can  not  spare  the  ready 
money,  and  hope  now  to  be  fine  without  it.  But  ah  !  think 
what  you  do,  when  you  run  into  debt !  You  give  to  an 
other,  power  over  your  own  liberty.  If  you  can  not  pay 
at  the  time,  you  will  be  ashamed  to  see  your  creditor  ; 
you  will  be  in  fear  when  you  speak  to  him  ;  you  will 
make  poor,  pitiful,  sneaking  excuses  ;  and  by  degrees 
come  to  lose  your  veracity,  and  sink  into  base,  down 
right  lying;  for  The  second  vice  is  lying,  when  the  first  is 
running  into  debt,  as  Poor  Richard  says ;  and  again,  to 
the  same  purpose,  Lying  rides  upon  Debt's  back  ;  where 
as,  a  freeborn  American  ought  not  to  be  ashamed,  nor 
afraid  to  see  or  to  speak  to  any  man  living.  But  poverty 
often  deprives  a  man  of  all  spirit  and  virtue.  It  is  hard 
for  an  empty  sack  to  stand  upright. 

"  What  would  you  think  of  that  prince,  or  of  that  gov 
ernment,  that  should  issue  an  edict  forbidding  you  to 
dress  like  a  gentleman,  or  a  gentlewoman,  on  pain  of 
imprisonment  or  servitude  ?  Would  you  not  say  that 


216  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

you  were  free,  had  a  right  to  dress  as  you  please,  and 
that  such  an  edict  would  be  a  breach  of  your  privileges, 
and  such  a  government  tyrannical  1  And  yet  you  are 
about  to  put  yourself  under  such  a  tyranny,  when  you 
run  into  debt  for  such  dress  !  Your  creditor  has  authori 
ty,  at  his  pleasure,  to  deprive  you  of  your  liberty,  by  con 
fining  you  in  jail  till  you  shall  be  able  to  pay  him.  When 
you  have  got  your  bargain,  you  may  perhaps  think  little 
of  payment  ;  but,  as  Poor  Richard  says,  Creditors  have 
better  memories  than  debtors  ;  creditors  are  a  superstitious 
sect,  great  observers  of  set  days  and  times.  The  day  comes 
round  before  you  are  aware,  and  the  demand  is  made  be 
fore  you  are  prepared  to  satisfy  it;  or,  if  you  bear  your 
debt  in  mind,  the  term,  which  at  first  seemed  so  long, 
will,  as  it  lessens,  appear  extremely  short.  Time  will 
seem  to  have  added  wings  to  his  heels,  as  well  as  his 
shoulders.  Those  have  a  short  Lent,  who  owe  money  to 
be  paid  at  Easter.  At  present  you  may  perhaps  think 
yourselves  in  thriving  circumstances,  and  that  you  can 
bear  a  little  extravagance  without  injury;  but — 

For  age  and  want  save  while  you  may  ; 
No  morning-  sun  lasts  a  whole  day. 

Gain  may  be  temporary  and  uncertain  ;  but  ever,  while 
you  live,  expense  is  constant  and  certain  ;  and  It  is  easier 
to  build  two  chimneys  than  to  keep  one  in  fuel,  as  Poor 
Richard  says ;  so,  Rather  go  to  bed  supperless,  than  rise 
in  debt. 

Get  what  you  can,  and  what  you  get,  liold ; 

'  Tis  the  stone  that  will  turn  all  your  lead  into  gold. 

And,  when  you  have  got  this  philosopher's  stone,  you  will 
surely  no  longer  complain  of  bad  times,  or  the  difficulty 
of  paying  taxes. 

"  IV.  This  doctrine,  my  friends,  is  reason  and  wisdom  ; 
but,  after  all,  do  not  depend  too  much  upon  your  own 
industry,  and  frugality,  and  prudence,  though  excellent 


PRECEPT    AND    PRACTICE. 

things ;  for  they  may  all  be  blasted,  without  the  blessing 
of  Heaven  ;  and,  therefore,  ask  that  blessing  humbly,  and 
be  not  uncharitable  to  those  that  at  present  seem  to  want 
it,  but  comfort  and  help  them.  Remember,  Job  suffered, 
and  was  afterward  prosperous. 

"  And  now,  to  conclude,  Experience  keeps  a  dear  school, 
but  fools  will  learn  in  no  other,  as  Poor  Richard  says,  and 
scarcely  in  that;  for  it  is  true —  We  may  give  advice,  but 
we  can  not  give  conduct.  However,  remember  this  :  They 
that  will  not  be  counselled,  can  not  be  helped  ;  and  further, 
that  If  you  will  not  hear  Reason,  she  will  surely  rap  your 
knuckles,  as  Poor  Richard  says." 

Such  was  the  discourse  ascribed  to  the  white-haired 
Abraham ;  and  the  author,  in  the  guise  of  Richard  Saun- 
ders,  adds,  with  a  spice  of  pungent  humor,  that  "  the  peo 
ple  heard  it,  approved  the  doctrine,  and  immediately 
practised  the  contrary,  just  as  if  it  had  been  a  common 
sermon;  for  the  auction  opened  and  they  began  to  buy 
extravagantly." 

Still,  though  the  company  at  the  auction  could  not,  in 
the  immediate  presence  of  temptation,  be  persuaded  at 
once  to  forego  the  cheap  bargains  they  had  come  express 
ly  to  make,  and'  for  which  their  mouths  were  already 
watering ;  yet,  when  the  discourse,  everywhere  distribu 
ted  among  the  people,  had  an  opportunity  to  make  its 
quiet  appeal  to  their  good  sense,  without  having  to  en 
counter  the  power  of  rival  vanities  in  the  immediate  pres 
ence  of  the  objects  of  competition,  it  took  effect  far  and 
wide  ;  insomuch  that,  "  as  it  discouraged  useless  expense 
in  foreign  superfluities,  some  thought  it  had  its  share  of  in 
fluence,  in  producing  that  growing  plenty  of  money,  which 
was  observable  for  several  years  after  its  publication." 

We  have,  on  a  previous  page,  noticed  the  censure  some 
times  passed  upon  Franklin,  as  encouraging  a  too  penu- 

19 


218  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN   FRANKLIN. 

rious  and  niggardly  spirit,  by  insisting  so  much  as  he  did, 
in  this  and  a  number  of  other  pieces,  on  the  practice  of 
industry,  frugality,  and  economy.  In  the  previous  re 
marks  alluded  to,  it  was  our  object  to  vindicate  his  own 
personal  habits  and  motives  from  the  censure  mentioned. 
The  discourse  before  us  presents  the  subject  in  another 
aspect,  on  which  a  few  words  will  not,  we  trust,  be 
deemed  inappropriate. 

The  reason  assigned  by  Franklin  himself  for  the  ear 
nestness  with  which  he  inculcated  the  maxims  of  thrift, 
fully  vindicates  his  motives  from  the  censure  in  question  ; 
for  he  expressly  declares  that  in  so  doing,  it  was  his  pur 
pose  to  render  virtue  more  safe  by  placing  it  as  much  as 
possible  out  of  the  power  of  temptation,  and  securing 
that  degree  of  personal  independence,  and  freedom  of 
opinion  and  action,  which  are  most  favorable  to  the  dis 
charge  of  the  various  duties  of  life ;  while  his  conduct, 
from  first  to  last,  shows  that  his  own  character  was 
wholly  free  from  the  taint  of  covetousness,  or  sordid  par 
simony. 

It  is  very  likely  that  the  covetous  and  mean  may  have 
used  his  pithy  sayings,  not  unfrequently,  to  cover  a  pre 
determination  to  keep  their  hands  fast*  shut  against  all 
appeals  of  private  benevolence,  or  an  enlightened  and 
just  public  spirit.  But  to  use  those  maxims  thus,  is  to 
abuse  them  ;  and  it  still  remains  true  that  industry  and 
frugality  are  virtues ;  that  the  maxims  which  enforce 
them  are  wise  and  useful  ;  and  that  the  man  who  is  able, 
by  such  teachings,  to  extend  the  practice  of  those  virtues, 
is  both  a  public  and  a  private  benefactor ;  for  notwith 
standing  the  occasional  abuse  of  such  precepts,  it  is  con 
stantly  true  that,  for  the  great  majority  of  our  race,  the 
only  way  to  obtain  an  honest  livelihood,  or  train  their 
children  to  become  useful  and  wholesome  members  of 
society,  is  the  exercise  of  the  virtues  mentioned. 


USE    AND    ABUSE    OF    MONEY.  2 

Indeed,  the  far  more  common  danger  to  which  men  are 
exposed,  is  on  the  side  of  indolence,  prodigality,  improvi 
dence,  and  the  neglect  of  systematic  economy  in  all  af 
fairs,  whether  public  or  private  ;  and  these  same  vices 
withhold  from  the  just  calls  of  benevolence  and  worthy 
enterprise,  far  greater  sums  than  all  the  hoardings  of  ava 
rice  and  parsimony.  The  money  continually  lavished 
for  the  most  frivolous  purposes,  or  the  most  profligate  and 
pernicious  self-indulgence,  take  Christendom  through, 
would  feed  and  clothe,  shelter,  educate,  and  train  to  vir 
tue,  usefulness,  and  respectability,  all  the  children  of 
want,  ignorance,  vice,  and  infamy,  on  earth,  and  renovate 
the  world. 


220  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

NEWSPAPERS HE    DEFENDS    A    CLERGYMAN LANGUAGES 

FAMILY    CONCERNS NEW    CLUBS MADE    CLERK    OF 

THE    ASSEMBLY CITY    AFFAIRS. 

FRANKLIN  availed  himself  of  his  newspaper,  as  he  did 
of  his  almanac,  to  make  it  not  merely  a  gazette  of  news 
and  advertisements,  but  a  vehicle  of  useful  knowledge, 
and  the  means  of  promoting  a  relish  for  instructive  read 
ing  and  a  just  taste.  With  these  views  he  inserted,  from 
time  to  time,  selections  from  the  best  writers  in  the  lan 
guage,  and  occasionally  an  essay  of  his  own,  which  had 
been  prepared  for  the  Junto.  Some  of  his  early  perform 
ances,  which  first  came  before  the  public  in  this  way, 
have  been  justly  deemed  worthy  of  preservation  in  the 
collections  of  his  writings.  One  of  these  pieces,  pub 
lished  in  1730,  aside  from  its  literary  merits,  has  a  fur 
ther  interest  as  presenting  another  view  of  the  action  of 
his  mind  and  of  his  way  of  thinking,  at  that  period,  on 
important  points  of  morality  ;  and  as  indicating  also  some 
thing  of  the  influences  at  work  in  that  club,  which  con 
tributed  so  much  to  exercise  and  develop  his  faculties. 

The  piece  referred  to  is  a  dialogue,  in  the  Socratic 
manner,  between  two  friends,  "  Concerning  Virtue  and 
Pleasure ;"  aiming  "  to  show  that  a  vicious  man,  what 
ever  may  be  his  abilities,  can  not  be  properly  called  a 
man  of  sense."  In  this  performance  the  author  incul 
cates  the  wisdom  and  duty  of  that  comprehensive  tern- 


SOUND    PRINCIPLES.  221 

perance,  or  self-control,  which  is  not  less  indispensable 
to  the  lasting  enjoyment  of  even  those  pleasures  of  which 
the  senses  are  the  medium,  than  it  is  to  the  discharge  of 
duty,  or  to  the  attainment  of  any  kind  of  real  and  perma 
nent  good.  Among  other  things,  he  touches  upon  the 
grave  question  of  the  moral  responsibility  involved  in 
the  formation  of  opinions  ;  maintaining  the  doctrine  that 
a  man  is  culpable  for  wrong  opinions  of  the  nature  of 
human  actions,  so  far  as  he  neglects  the  means  within 
his  power  to  rectify  them  ;  and  that  wrong  actions  in 
duced  by  such  opinions  are  not  excused  by  mere  good 
intentions.  He  holds,  also,  that  a  man's  truest  good  is 
to  be  found  in  well-doing,  or  in  "  doing  all  the  good  he 
can  to  others;"  that  "this  is  that  constant  and  durable 
good  which  will  afford  contentment  and  satisfaction  al 
ways  alike ;"  and  is  the  only  species  of  pleasure  that 
"grows  by  repetition"  and  "  ends  but  with  our  being." 

The  moral  principles  which  governed  him  in  the  con 
duct  of  his  newspaper  give  honorable  evidence  of  recti 
tude  and  firmness.  He  "  carefully  excluded  all  libelling 
and  personal  abuse;"  and  when  the  insertion  of  such  ar 
ticles  was  urged  on  the  plea  of  "  the  liberty  of  the  press," 
and  that  "  a  newspaper  was  like  a  stagecoach,  in  which 
any  one  who  would  pay,  had  a  right  to  a  place,"  he  re 
plied  that  "  he  would  not  take  it  upon  him  to  spread  de 
traction  ;  and  that,  having  contracted  with  his  subscribers 
to  furnish  them  with  what  might  be  either  useful  or  en 
tertaining,  he  could  not  fill  their  paper  with  private  alter 
cation,  in  which  they  had  no  concern,  without  doing  them 
great  injustice." 

Such  principles  are  worthy  of  all  praise  ;  and  the  ob 
servance  of  them,  as  Franklin  urges  from  his  own  ample 
experience,  will  be  found,  in  the  main,  as  profitable  as  it 
is  honest  and  just. 

Franklin,  it  appears,  established  the  first  printing-office 
19* 


222  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

in  Charleston,  South  Carolina.  On  learning  that  such  an 
establishment  was  desired  there,  he  fitted  out  one  of  his 
journeymen  with  the  necessary  apparatus,  in  1733,  un 
der  a  contract  with  him  to  sustain  one  third  of  the  ex 
penses  and  receive  one  third  of  the  profits.  The  person 
thus  sent  is  represented  as  an  intelligent  man,  but  neg 
lectful  of  his  accounts  ;  and  though  he  remitted  money 
occasionally,  yet  never,  while  he  lived,  did  he  furnish  a 
regular  and  full  statement  of  the  affairs  of  the  partner 
ship.  Upon  his  death,  however,  his  widow  continued 
the  business  ;  and  having  been  born  and  bred  in  Holland, 
where,  as  in  other  parts  of  Europe,  females  are  taught 
book-keeping  as  a  customary  part  of  education,  she  lost 
no  time  in  looking  into  the  concerns  of  the  printing- 
office  ;  and  not  only  furnished  as  clear  and  exact  an  ex 
hibit  of  the  past  transactions  of  the  oifice  as  the  books 
and  papers  left  by  her  husband  permitted,  but  she  "  con 
tinued  to  account,  with  the  greatest  regularity  and  exact 
ness,  every  quarter  afterward." 

This  discreet  and  usefully-educated  woman  managed 
the  business  so  well,  as  to  derive  from  it  the  means  of 
bringing  up  several  children,  in  a  very  judicious  and 
reputable  manner;  and  at  the  close  of  the  partnership 
term,  was  able  to  buy  out  her  partner's  interest,  and 
place  her  eldest  son  at  the  head  of  the  establishment. 

This  case  is  related  by  Franklin,  as  he  remarks,  for 
the  purpose  of  commending  the  practice  of  making  a 
knowledge  of  account-keeping,  sufficient  at  least  for  the 
ordinary  transactions  of  business,  a  part  of  the  common 
education  of  both  sexes  alike ;  and  as  being  likely  to  prove 
more  useful  to  "  our  young  women  and  their  children,  in 
case  of  widowhood,  than  either  music  or  dancing,  by  pre 
serving  them  from  the  imposition  of  crafty  men,  and  ena 
bling  them  to  continue  perhaps  a  profitable  mercantile 
house,  with  established  correspondents,  till  a  son  is  grown 


PLAGIARISM    IN    THE    PULPIT.  223 

up,  fit  to  go  on  with  it,  to  the  lasting  advantage  and  en 
riching  of  the  family." 

About  this  period  a  young  Presbyterian  clergyman 
took  charge  of  the  congregation  to  which  Franklin  nom 
inally  belonged,  who  soon  became  exceedingly  popular. 
In  his  preaching  he  chiefly  insisted,  it  appears,  on  the  va 
rious  duties  of  life  ;  endeavoring  to  awaken  the  con 
sciences  of  his  hearers  to  the  importance  of  a  faithful 
discharge  of  those  duties,  as  the  best  evidence  of  a  true 
Christian  spirit — the  good  fruit  of  the  good  tree  ;  and 
saying  little  of  doctrinal  points,  and  nothing  of  sectarian 
controversy.  His  discourses,  being  delivered  in  a  very 
impressive  manner,  without  notes,  and  uncommonly  well 
composed,  "  drew  together  considerable  numbers  of  dif 
ferent  persuasions,  who  joined  in  admiring  them  ;"  and 
as  they  constituted  the  kind  of  preaching  which  Franklin 
believed  most  likely  to  do  good,  he  became  a  constant 
and  gratified  attendant  upon  them. 

At  length,  however,  a  charge  of  heresy  was  brought 
against  the  preacher,  and  he  was  arraigned  thereon  be 
fore  the  synod.  This  occasioned  a  warm  contest,  in  which 
Franklin  sided  with  the  accused  ;  and,  as  he  remarks, 
"  finding  him,  though  an  elegant  preacher,  a  poor  writer, 
wrote  for  him  two  or  three  pamphlets,"  besides  an  arti 
cle  in  his  paper.  This  was  in  the  spring  of  1735  ;  and  so 
much  of  a  party  was  enlisted  for  the  young  minister,  as 
to  raise  at  first  some  hope  of  success.  An  opponent,  how 
ever,  on  hearing  one  of  these  much-applauded  sermons, 
was  strongly  impressed  with  the  conviction  that  he  had 
already  seen  much  of  it  elsewhere  ;  arid  after  a  little 
search  he  found  its  most  striking  portions  in  some  ex 
tracts,  "  in  one  of  the  British  reviews,  from  a  discourse 
of  Dr.  Foster ;"  the  same  eloquent  divine,  doubtless, 
whom  Pope,  in  the  Epilogue  to  his  Satires,  styles  "  mod 
est  Foster,"  and  celebrates  for  "preaching  well." 


224  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

This  exposure  was  followed  by  the  sentence  of  the 
synod  against  the  young  minister,  who  subsequently  con 
fessed  to  Franklin,  that  he  did  not  write  one  of  the  ser 
mons  which  had  been  so  much  admired  ;  and  he  stated 
that  his  memory  was  so  retentive,  that  from  a  single  read 
ing  of  such  a  discourse,  he  could  repeat  the  whole  of  it. 
Soon  after  being  silenced,  he  went  from  Philadelphia ; 
and  Franklin,  though  he  paid  his  annual  contribution,  for 
many  years,  to  support  the  minister  of  the  congregation, 
ceased  all  further  personal  intercourse  with  it. 

Franklin  made  some  valuable  acquisitions,  at  this  pe 
riod,  which  show  how  much  may  be  done,  in  this  way, 
even  by  a  man  of  business,  if  he  will  only  adhere,  with 
steady  perseverance,  to  some  plan  judiciously  adapted  to 
the  opportunities  allowed  by  his  occupation,  for  the  pur 
suit  of  collateral  objects.  In  1733,  he  began  to  study  the 
French  language;  arid  without  the  smallest  neglect  of  his 
business,  he  soon  learned  to  read  it  with  ease.  He  then 
took  up  Italian ;  but  being  very  fond  of  chess,  and  often 
playing  the  game  with  another  person,  who  was  engaged 
in  acquiring  the  same  language,  Franklin  found  his  favor 
ite  amusement  encroaching  so  much  upon  his  time,  that 
he  determined  to  quit  it,  unless  his  companion  would 
agree  that  the  winner,  at  the  close  of  every  game,  should 
require  of  the  loser  a  task  in  Italian  to  be  performed  at 
their  next  meeting.  This  course  was  pursued  ;  and,  says 
Franklin,  "  as  we  played  pretty  equally,  we  thus  beat 
each  other  into  that  language."  He  adds  that  afterward, 
"  with  a  little  pains-taking,"  he  acquired  enough  Spanish 
to  read  that  language  also. 

When  a  boy  he  had  received,  it  will  be  remembered, 
some  instruction  in  the  rudiments  of  the  Latin,  but  was 
soon  obliged  to  relinquish  it,  and  had  never  resumed  the 
study.  After  acquiring  the  three  modern  languages  men 
tioned,  "  on  looking  over  a  Latin  Testament,"  he  states 


THE    STUDY    OF    LANGUAGES.  225 

his  surprise  at  finding  that  he  "  understood  more  of  that 
language  than  he  had  imagined  ;"  and  thereupon  apply 
ing  himself  to  it  again,  with  his  habitual  earnestness,  he 
now  acquired  a  very  valuable  knowledge  of  the  Latin. 

His  own  experience  on  this  point  led  him  to  the  opin 
ion  that  the  course  usually  pursued  in  the  study  of  lan 
guages,  beginning  with  the  Latin  and  Greek,  and  then 
taking  up  the  modern  tongues,  is  not  judicious  ;  that  much 
time  would  be  saved,  and  more  valuable  acquisitions 
made,  by  reversing  the  process,  and  beginning  with  the 
living  languages,  as  being  most  easily  acquired  ;  and  thus, 
to  use  his  own  figure,  ascend  the  stairs  regularly  step  by 
step,  by  beginning  with  the  one  most  readily  attained. 

But,  besides  the  more  rapid  progress,  which,  as  he 
thought,  would  thus  be  made  in  attaining  a  series  of  lan 
guages,  he  suggested  that  another  practical  advantage 
would  be  secured.  If,  for  any  reason,  the  student  should 
be  constrained,  in  the  midst  of  his  career,  to  relinquish 
his  pursuit,  he  would  still  be  in  possession  of  one  or  more 
of  the  living  languages,  which,  in  a  great  majority  of 
cases,  would  prove  to  be  the  more  useful  part  of  the  se 
ries. 

The  question  here  presented  is  certainly  one  of  much 
practical  importance.  The  order  of  study  recommended 
seems  to  be  the  natural  order.  In  the  pursuit  of  knowl 
edge  we  necessarily  proceed  from  what  is  known,  to 
what  is  not  known  ;  and  the  same  rule,  in  its  spirit,  would 
seem  to  require  that,  of  things  not  yet  known,  the  student 
should  begin  with  that  which  is  most  easily  acquired,  and 
then  proceed  to  the  more  difficult ;  especially  when  the 
objects  of  pursuit  are  connected  by  so  many  affinities  as 
are  the  languages  in  question.  Various  instances,  more 
over,  of  experience  similar  to  that  of  Franklin's  in  this 
matter,  might  be  cited  in  support  of  his  recommenda 
tion. 


226  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

As  to  the  practical  value  of  the  ancient  and  modern 
languages  respectively,  the  question  seems  to  be  one 
which  each  individual  should  decide  with  exclusive  ref 
erence  to  his  actual  or  intended  pursuits.  For  all  those 
who  are  directly  concerned  in  the  various  callings  of  ac 
tive  life,  including  not  only  foreign  trade,  but  every  kind 
of  intercourse  with  other  nations,  in  either  private  or 
public  affairs,  the  living  languages  are  obviously  the  most 
important.  So  it  seems  to  be,  also,  in  reference  to  those 
professional  employments,  (engineering,  for  instance,) 
which  depend  on  the  physical  sciences  and  the  mathe 
matics  auxiliary  to  them  ;  inasmuch  as  all  the  learning, 
of  any  practical  utility,  is  contained  almost  exclusively 
in  the  modern  languages. 

Even  in  regard  to  some  of  the  highest  forms  of  litera 
ture  and  art,  so  far  as  relates  to  works  most  distinguished 
for  original  conception  and  the  deepest  insight  into  hu 
man  life  and  character,  the  study  of  the  ancient  languages 
and  literature  seems  to  be  of  little  importance  ;  for  the 
most  admirable  works,  of  this  class,  have  appeared  in 
times  of  comparative  rudeness,  or  were  produced  by  men 
having  little  instruction  of  any  kind,  beyond  what  they 
derived  from  their  own  observation  and  experience.  But, 
nevertheless,  there  are  aspects  in  which  the  thorough 
mastery  of  the  classic  literature  of  ancient  Greece  and 
Rome  seems  to  be  of  great  moment.  As  a  means  of 
mental  discipline,  we  believe  such  study  to  be  superior 
to  any  other,  particularly  for  training  the  mind  to  that 
nice  discrimination,  both  in  thought  and  expression,  with 
out  which  some  of  the  highest  qualities  of  style  are  rare 
ly  attainable,  and  to  that  clear  perception  and  quick 
sense  of  whatever  is  beautiful,  which  seem  indispensable 
to  just  and  profound  criticism,  and  to  that  high  standard 
of  excellence,  and  that  tone  of  scholarship,  from  which 
alone,  as  from  a  presiding  spirit,  can  emanate  those  re- 


HE    VISITS    HIS    RELATIVES.  227 

fining  influences,  which  seem  necessary  to  insure  the 
highest  state  of  culture,  in  art  or  literature. 

In  1734,  Franklin's  industrious  and  frugal  habits  hav 
ing  placed  him  in  easy  circumstances,  he  paid  a  visit  to 
his  birthplace  and  family  connexions.  He  had  not  been 
there  for  about  ten  years  ;  but  death  had  made  but  few 
breaches  in  the  circle  of  those  whom  he  had  best  known 
and  loved.  Both  his  parents  were  yet  living.  Several 
of  his  older  brothers  and  sisters  had  died  young,  before 
he  had  an  opportunity  to  know  them  ;  but  of  those  who 
reached  maturity,  and  to  whom  his  natural  attachments 
had  linked  themselves  as  he  grew  up,  all  had  thus  far 
been  spared,  except  his  older  sister  Sarah,  (Mrs.  Daven 
port,)  who  died  in  1731.  His  family  affections,  which 
were  warm,  were  much  gratified  by  the  visit ;  and  on  his 
way  back  to  Philadelphia,  he  visited  his  brother  James, 
who  had  now  for  some  time  been  settled  at  Newport, 
Rhode  Island,  and  was  still  pursuing  his  trade  as  a 
printer. 

This  visit  was  endeared  to  the  two  brothers  by  putting 
the  seal  to  their  mutual  reconcilement.  Old  differences 
and  heart-burnings  had  all  passed  away,  and  they  met, 
as  brothers  should  meet,  with  cordial  affection.  The 
health  of  James  was  much  undermined,  and,  in  the  con 
viction  that  his  death  could  not  be  very  distant,  he  de 
sired  his  brother,  whenever  that  event  should  occur,  to 
take  his  son,  then  ten  years  old,  and  train  him  as  a 
printer.  To  this  desire  Benjamin  cheerfully  assented ; 
and  he  fulfilled  it  with  generous  fidelity,  by  taking  his 
nephew,  on  the  death  of  the  lad's  father  in  1735,  into  his 
own  family,  sending  him  for  a  few  years  to  school,  and 
then  placing  him  in  his  printing-office.  The  widow  of 
James  continued  his  business  at  Newport,  till  her  son 
came  to  the  age  of  twenty-one  years  ;  when,  being  fur 
nished  by  his  uncle  with  a  full  set  of  new  types,  he  re- 


228  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FllANKLIN. 

turned  to  his  mother  and  took  the  business  out  of  her 
hands  into  his  own.  In  this  way  did  Franklin  more  than 
redeem  his  pledge  to  his  deceased  brother,  and  make 
compensation  for  not  having  served  out  the  term  of  his 
apprenticeship. 

The  sorest  affliction  Franklin  had  yet  suffered,  befell 
him  in  1736,  in  the  death  of  one  of  his  two  sons  by  the 
small-pox  taken  in  what  is  called  the  natural  way.  "  He 
was  a  fine  boy  of  four  years  old,"  says  the  father,  "  and  I 
long  regretted  him  bitterly."  He  also  states  his  regret 
that  he  had  not  had  the  child  inoculated  ;  and  he  makes 
this  declaration,  as  he  remarks,  as  an  admonition  to  those 
parents,  who  assign  as  their  reason  for  omitting  to  have 
their  children  inoculated,  that  they  could  never  forgive 
themselves,  if  a  child  should  die  of  the  disease  thus  vol 
untarily  communicated ;  inasmuch  as  his  own  experience 
showed,  to  use  his  own  words,  "  that  the  regret  may  be 
the  same  either  way ;  and  therefore  the  safer  course  should 
be  chosen." 

The  Junto  had  proved  so  agreeable  and  advantageous 
to  its  members,  that  some  of  them  wished  to  enlarge  the 
club  by  bringing  in  their  friends.  But  this  would  have 
extended  its  number  beyond  twelve,  which  had  been  fixed 
as  a  limit  well  fitted  for  convenience,  and  for  the  perma 
nent  preservation  of  harmony.  In  order,  moreover,  to 
avoid  annoying  applications  for  admission,  the  existence 
as  well  as  nature  of  the  club  had  been  a  secret. 

Franklin,  being  unwilling  thus  to  augment  the  num 
bers  of  the  existing  association,  proposed,  instead,  that 
each  member  should  start  a  new  club,  on  the  same  prin 
ciples  and  subject  to  the  same  regulations,  but  without 
making  known  his  connexion  with  the  parent-club  ;  while 
he  should,  at  the  same  time,  obey  the  instructions  of  the 
parent-club,  in  suggesting  inquiries  and  directing  the  ac 
tion  of  the  new  club,  and  should  also  make  regular  re- 


HE    IS    MADE    CLERK    OF    THE    ASSEMBLY.  229 

ports  of  its  doings  :  thus  rendering  the  new  clubs  subor 
dinate  to  the  parent-Junto,  and  their  founders  the  chan 
nels  of  communication  with  them,  but  without  their 
knowledge  of  the  fact. 

In  support  of  his  proposal  he  urged  that  a  much  larger 
number  of  young  men  would  thus  be  enabled  to  enjoy 
the  advantages  of  such  an  association  ;  that  the  members 
of  the  parent-club  would  thus  be  enabled  to  obtain  much 
more  extended  and  correct  knowledge  of  the  views  of  all 
classes  of  the  community,  on  every  important  occasion  or 
subject ;  that  they  could  thus,  also,  exert  a  more  exten 
sive  and  efficient  influence  for  the  advancement  of  the 
public  interests,  as  well  as  in  behalf  of  their  own  legiti 
mate  private  objects  ;  and,  finally,  that  they  would  thus 
increase  their  power  and  opportunities  to  be  useful. 

The  proposed  plan  was  assented  to  ;  each  member  of 
the  Junto  endeavored  to  organize  a  new  club  ;  and  sev 
eral  of  them  succeeded.  Of  the  five  or  six  clubs  thus 
formed,  the  names  of  three,  as  given  by  Franklin,  were  — 
The  Vine — The  Union  —  and  The  Band;  and  he  says 
that  they  were  not  only  useful  to  their  own  members  re 
spectively,  but  that  they  afforded  much  information  as 
well  as  amusement  to  the  Junto,  besides  enabling  it  to 
exert  occasionally,  and  to  a  considerable  extent,  that  in 
fluence  on  the  public  mind,  which  was  one  of  the  induce 
ments  to  establish  them. 

It  was  also  in  the  same  year,  1736,  that  Franklin  re 
ceived  his  first  political  appointment,  in  being  chosen  by 
the  General  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania  clerk  of  that  body. 
On  this  first  occasion  he  was  chosen  without  opposition. 
But  the  members  of  the  Assembly,  as  well  as  the  clerk, 
being  elected  annually,  the  next  year,  1737,  a  new  mem 
ber,  stated  to  have  been  a  man  of  fortune,  education,  and 
talents,  made  a  long  speech  against  the  re-election  of 
Franklin,  and  in  behalf  of  another  candidate  for  the 
20 


230  LIFE     OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

clerkship.  Franklin,  however,  was  again  placed  in  the 
office,  which  was  a  desirable  one,  not  only  for  its  respec 
tability,  but  also  for  its  emoluments,  and  for  the  influ 
ence  it  gave  him  with  the  members ;  by  which  means  he 
secured  for  himself  the  still  more  profitable  employment 
of  printing  the  journals  of  the  Assembly,  the  laws,  the 
paper-money,  and  such  other  public  printing  as  occasion 
ally  became  necessary. 

The  name  of  the  new  member,  who  so  strenuously  op 
posed  the  re-election  of  Franklin  as  clerk  of  the  Assem 
bly,  is  not  stated  ;  but  the  latter  converted  him  into  a 
friend  before  the  close  of  the  session.  The  course  he 
took  to  attain  this  end  furnishes  too  valuable  a  lesson 
and  is  too  characteristic  of  the  man,  to  be  omitted.  Frank 
lin,  readily  perceiving  that  the  person  in  question  was 
certain  to  become  an  influential  member  of  such  a  body, 
felt  a  natural  and  proper  regret  to  find  such  a  man  op 
posed  to  him  for  no  just  reason,  but  in  all  probability  from 
a  total  misconception  of  his  character,  and  resolved  to 
win  his  good  will.  The  manner  in  which  he  sought  and 
attained  this  end,  is  best  stated  in  his  own  words  : — 

"  I  did  not  aim  at  gaining  his  favor,"  says  Franklin, 
"  by  paying  any  servile  respect  to  him  ;  but,  after  some 
time,  took  this  method.  Having  heard  that  he  had  in 
his  library  a  certain  very  scarce  and  curious  book,  I 
wrote  a  note  to  him,  expressing  my  desire  to  peruse  that 
book,  and  requesting  that  he  would  do  me  the  favor  of 
lending  it  to  me  for  a  few  days.  He  sent  it  immediate 
ly ;  and  I  returned  it  in  about  a  week,  with  another  note, 
expressing  strongly  my  sense  of  the  favor.  When  we 
next  met  in  the  house,  he  spoke  to  me,  which  he  had 
never  done  before,  and  with  great  civility ;  and  he  ever 
after  manifested  a  readiness  to  serve  me  on  all  occa 
sions  ;  so  that  we  became  great  friends,  and  our  friend 
ship  continued  to  his  death." 


iro\V    TO    REMOVE    OPPOSITION.  231 

Franklin  gives  this  anecdote  as  a  verification  of  the 
old  maxim,  that  "  He  that  hath  done  you  one  kindness, 
will  be  more  ready  to  do  you  another ',  than  he  to  whom 
you  have  yourself  done  a  favor;"  and  "it  shows,"  he 
adds,  "how  much  more  profitable  it  is,  prudently  to  re 
move,  than  to  resent,  return,  and  continue,  inimical  pro 
ceedings." 

The  incidents  related,  and  their  results,  were  certainly 
honorable  to  the  good  sense  and  liberal  feeling  of  both 
parties  ;  though  Franklin's  course,  at  least,  was  very  dif 
ferent  from  that  which  ordinary  men  would  have  pur 
sued.  If  it  should  be  said  that  the  motive,  on  both  sides, 
was  selfish,  the  remark,  even  if  admitted  to  be  true,  would 
have  little  force,  and  no  value ;  for  the  very  sufficient 
reason  that,  if  such  were  the  motive,  it  was  a  far  more 
creditable  and  enlightened  form  of  self-love  than  any  ex 
hibition  of  such  feelings  in  the  unworthy  and  debasing 
manner  of  vulgar  resentment  and  vindictive  hate  —  emo 
tions  which  not  only  belong  to  the  very  essence  of  the 
most  intense  and  intolerant  selfishness,  but  imply,  be 
sides,  in  a  case  like  the  one  in  question,  an  arrogant  as 
sumption  of  merit  so  great,  as  to  render  any  opposition 
to  its  demands  equivalent  to  an  invasion  of  personal 
rights.  But  it  seems  to  be  a  mere  abuse  of  terms  to 
pronounce  the  conduct  described  selfish.  To  our  ap 
prehension  it  evinces  unusual  magnanimity  in  both  par 
ties  ;  and,  in  Franklin,  a  candid  allowance  for  misconcep 
tion  on  the  part  of  his  opponent,  with  a  manly  admission 
of  the  right  of  that  opponent  to  advocate  the  election  of 
any  candidate  he  liked  best.  Indeed,  his  conduct  ap 
proaches  so  near  that  which  is  enjoined  by  the  Christian 
precepts,  to  return  good  for  evil,  to  do  as  you  would  be 
done  by,  and  to  forgive  injuries,  that  any  practical  dis 
tinction  seems  difficult ;  and  if  men  would  always  act 
with  the  same  good  sense  and  moderation,  or  even  with 


232  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

equally  enlightened  self-love,  most  of  the  personal  feuds 
that  embitter  life  and  disturb  its  tranquillity  would  dis 
appear,  and  the  enmities,  kindled  by  hasty  resentment, 
and  fostered  by  the  pernicious  sentiment  of  false  honor, 
would  be  happily  exchanged  for  friendship  and  peace. 

In  1737,  the  deputy-postmaster  at  Philadelphia  having 
proved  negligent  respecting  his  official  accounts,  was  re 
moved,  and  Franklin  was  appointed  in  his  place.  This 
appointment  gratified  Franklin,  not  so  much  for  the  salary 
connected  with  it,  which  was  but  small,  as  because,  by 
relieving  his  correspondence  from  all  expense,  and  ena 
bling  him  to  improve  his  newspaper,  its  circulation  and 
advertising  custom  were  so  increased  that  its  profits  now 
began  to  yield  a  considerable  income.  This  increase  of 
business  and  emolument  was  still  further  aided  by  the 
diminishing  patronage  received  by  his  rival,  Bradford, 
the  displaced  postmaster,  who  had,  while  in  office,  for 
bidden  his  post-riders  to  distribute  any  papers  but  his 
own.  Upon  the  change  which  thus  took  place  in  their 
mutual  relations,  however,  Franklin,  content  with  the 
thriving  condition  of  his  affairs,  had  the  neighborly  feel 
ing  and  magnanimity  not  to  retaliate  upon  his  competi 
tor  the  prohibition  just  mentioned  ;  and  in  relating  this 
reversal  of  their  respective  positions,  he  makes  the  fol 
lowing  practical  and  characteristic  comment : — 

"  Thus  Bradford,"  says  Franklin,  "  suffered  greatly 
from  his  neglect  in  due  accounting ;  and  I  mention  it  as 
a  lesson  to  those  young  men,  who  may  be  employed  in 
managing  affairs  for  others,  that  they  should  always  ren 
der  accounts  and  make  remittances  with  great  clearness 
and  punctuality.  A  character  for  observing  such  a  course, 
is  the  most  powerful  of  all  recommendations  to  new  em 
ployments  and  increase  of  business." 

It  is  interesting  to  note  the  difference  between  the 
movement  of  the  public  mail,  in  those  old  colonial  days, 


POST-RIDING THE    CITY    WATCH.  233 

when  its  bags  of  at  most  but  a  few  score  pounds  in  weight, 
were  almost  universally  carried  on  horseback,  and  in 
these  times,  when  it  is  speeded  in  tons  by  steam.  In 
1737,  the  post-rider  went  southward  from  Philadelphia 
to  Newport,  in  Virginia,  once  a  month  ;  and  northward, 
as  far  as  New  York,  once  every  fortnight.  In  1743,  this 
activity  was  so  much  accelerated  that,  in  summer,  the 
mail  was  carried  southward  as  far  as  Annapolis,  in  Ma 
ryland,  once  in  two  weeks,  and  northward  to  New  York 
every  week ;  though,  in  winter,  the  transit,  each  way,  was 
still  at  the  previous  rates.  This,  moreover,  is  a  fair  spe 
cimen  of  the  general  sluggishness  of  all  social  movements 
in  those  times,  when  compared  with  the  intense  activity 
now  imparted  to  them  all  by  steam,  which,  in  every  prac 
tical  sense,  has  reduced  a  month  to  a  day,  and  the  seven 
days  of  the  week  to  as  many  hours  ;  while  the  yet  more 
wonderful  application  of  another  of  nature's  elemental 
forces,  to  the  spreading  of  intelligence,  has  reduced  even 
those  hours  to  seconds. 

With  a  productive  business,  so  well  established  and 
methodized  as  to  demand  less  of  his  personal  attention 
to  its  details,  Franklin,  now  at  the  age  of  thirty-one  years, 
was  led,  by  his  innate  desire  to  be  useful  to  the  extent 
of  his  ability,  to  apply  his  mind,  more  directly  than  he 
had  yet  done,  to  the  consideration  of  public  affairs,  and 
especially  to  the  concerns  of  the  community  to  which  he 
immediately  belonged.  His  first  effort,  in  this  way,  was 
directed  to  the  improvement  of  the  night-watch  of  the 
city.  This  important  concern  was,  at  that  time,  intrust 
ed  wholly  to  the  ward  constables,  who  called  out  small 
nightly  squads  of  housekeepers  to  patrol  their  respective 
beats.  Such  housekeepers  as  did  not  or  could  not  turn 
out,  paid  to  the  constable  of  their  ward  six  shillings  each, 
for  the  ostensible  purpose  of  enabling  him  to  hire  substi 
tutes.  But  as  the  sums  thus  collected,  even  if  faithfully 
20* 


LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

applied,  were  more  than  sufficient  for  the  alleged  pur 
pose,  and  as  the  constables  seem  never  to  have  been  re 
quired  to  account  for  the  surplus  money,  great  irregulari 
ties  and  abuses  ensued.  These  payments,  moreover, 
when  considered  as  a  tax  levied  to  protect  property,  were 
monsti'ously  unequal,  each  non-serving  housekeeper  pay 
ing  the  same  amount,  without  regard  to  sex  or  property. 

Franklin's  first  step  toward  reforming  this  objectiona 
ble  system,  was  to  read  before  the  Junto  a  paper  expo 
sing  the  inefficiency  and  abuses  of  the  course  pursued. 
He  insisted  especially  on  the  gross  inequality  and  injus 
tice  of  the  assessment,  under  which  a  poor  widow,  (to 
use  one  of  his  own  illustrations,)  who  could  not  render 
the  personal  service  required,  and  whose  property  to  be 
protected  might  not  exceed  fifty  pounds,  was,  if  a  house 
keeper,  obliged  to  pay  as  much  as  the  richest  merchant 
who  had  merchandise  to  the  amount  of  thousands  of 
pounds  in  his  warehouses;  and  he  proposed  that  able- 
bodied  and  trusty  men  should  be  hired  for  fixed  terms  of 
service,  and  the  expense  paid  by  a  general  tax  fairly  ap 
portioned  upon  property. 

This  obviously  just  proposal  was  approved  by  the 
Junto  ;  and  on  being,  by  its  members,  brought  forward 
in  the  other  clubs,  as  an  original  proposition  in  each,  it 
was  well  received  by  them  also.  The  new  plan  was  not 
immediately  carried  into  effect  by  the  city  authorities ; 
but,  by  the  course  pursued,  and  the  discussions  to  which 
it  led,  not  only  in  the  clubs,  but  in  the  community  gener 
ally,  the  public  mind  was  prepared  for  it,  and  in  a  few 
years,  when  the  young  men  belonging  to  the  clubs  came 
to  participate  more  fully  and  directly  in  the  management 
of  municipal  concerns,  it  was  adopted. 

Another  and  still  more  important  service  rendered  to 
Philadelphia,  about  the  same  period,  by  Franklin,  was 
the  establishment  of  the  first  fire-company  in  that  city. 


FIRE-COMPANIES    INTRODUCED.  235 

Byway  of  preparation  for  the  accomplishment  of  his  ob 
ject,  he  first  laid  before  the  Junto,  and  then  before  the 
public,  a  full  and  valuable  paper  on  the  general  subject 
of  fires,  callino-  attention  to  the  manner  in  which  houses 

O 

and  other  buildings  'are  often  exposed  to  them  by  injudi 
cious  arrangements  in  their  structure,  as  well  as  by  the 
personal  heedlessness  of  their  occupants  ;  and  suggesting 
various  modes  of  avoiding  such  hazards  beforehand,  as 
well  as  different  means  of  extinguishing  the  flames  when 
kindled. 

The  publication  of  this  paper  was  shortly  followed  by 
the  actual  organization  of  a  fire-company,  and  by  other 
measures  for  security  against  fires.  At  Franklin's  sug 
gestions,  also,  the  members  of  the  company  were  to  pro 
vide  themselves  with  leathern  buckets,  for  supplying 
water,  and  with  sacks  and  baskets  for  saving  goods,  and 
to  take  them  to  every  fire.  They  agreed  also  to  meet, 
from  time  to  time,  to  communicate  facts  arid  exchange 
views  in  relation  to  fires  and  the  best  way  to  encounter 
them. 

The  value  of  this  association  was  soon  felt  to  be  so 
great,  that  others  like  it  were  successively  formed,  until 
a  numerous  and  efficient  force  for  the  protection  of  the 
city  was  the  result ;  and  more  than  fifty  years  after,  when 
Franklin  was  relating  these  transactions,  he  took  occa 
sion  to  observe,  with  a  gratification  he  was  well  entitled 
to  enjoy,  that  the  Union  Fire-Company,  the  first  one 
formed,  was  still  existing,  though  all  its  original  mem 
bers  were  dead,  except  himself  and  another  person  a 
year  older  than  himself. 

Such  were  some  of  the  services  rendered  to  the  com 
munity  by  Franklin  in  his  early  manhood.  It  was  the 
constant  tendency  of  his  mind  to  apply  principles  to 
practice — his  strongly-marked  disposition  and  ability  to 
be  useful,  guided  by  an  enlightened  and  sincere  public 


236  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

spirit,  which  won  for  him  the  esteem  and  confidence  of 
society,  and  laid  the  foundation  of  that  influence  with 
his  fellow-citizens,  which,  to  their  advantage  and  the 
credit  of  their  good  sense,  not  less  than  to  his  own  honor, 
he  ultimately  enjoyed,  to  an  extent  'not  attained  by  any 
of  his  cotemporaries,  and  probably  never  surpassed. 


REV.    GEORGE    WHITEFIELD.  237 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

WHITEFIELD RELIGIOUS  VIEWS ACADEMIES  AND   SCIEN 
TIFIC     ASSOCIATIONS MILITARY     DEFENCE,     AND      THE 

QUAKERS WESTERN    POSTS THE    FRANKLIN    STOVE. 

IN  his  own  narrative  of  this  period  of  his  life,  Frank 
lin  has  given  an  interesting  sketch  of  that  celebrated 
popular  preacher,  the  Rev.  George  Whitefield,  who  made 
his  first  appearance  in  this  country  in  the  year  1739.  As 
Whitefield,  including  his  various  visits,  was  a  good  deal 
in  Philadelphia,  Franklin  became  intimately  acquainted 
with  him  ;  and  though  never  one  of  his  converts,  he  was 
deeply  impressed  by  the  earnest  and  exciting  eloquence 
of  the  preacher,  and  held  him  in  high  esteem  as  a  thor 
oughly  sincere,  honest,  warm-hearted,  benevolent  man. 

When  Whitefield  first  presented  himself  in  Philadel 
phia,  the  clergy  of  that  city  freely  admitted  him  into 
their  pulpits ;  but  for  some  reason  not  specifically  stated, 
they  pretty  soon  took  offence,  and  closed  their  churches 
against  him,  so  that  he  was  compelled  for  a  time  to  ad 
dress  the  people  in  the  fields.  This,  however,  being 
found  not  only  inconvenient  and  uncomfortable,  but  haz 
ardous  to  health,  a  proposal  was  started  among  some  of 
his  more  zealous  and  active  admirers  to  build  an  inde 
pendent  meeting-house,  to  which  not  only  Whitefield, 
but  any  other  preacher  of  whatever  denomination,  should 
have  free  access.  The  proposal  instantly  took,  and  sub 
scriptions  were  speedily  obtained  sufficient  to  purchase 


LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

ground  and  erect  a  plain,  substantial  edifice,  a  hundred 
feet  in  length  by  seventy  in  width.  The  work  was  soon 
done,  and  the  whole  property  conveyed,  in  due  legal 
form,  to  trustees,  to  be  held  for  "  the  use  of  any  preach 
er  of  any  religious  persuasion,"  who  should  wish  to  pre 
sent  to  the  public  his  views  on  any  religious  subject  what 
ever;  the  purpose,  in  providing  such  a  house,  not  being 
the  accommodation  of  any  particular  sect,  but  the  people 
generally. 

After  some  time  spent  in  Philadelphia,  "Whitefield,  pro 
ceeded  southward  as  far  as  Georgia,  preaching  at  all  the 
principal  places  on  his  way.  Georgia  had  been  organ 
ized  as  a  colony  only  about  six  years  ;  and  its  first  set 
tlers,  as  described  by  Franklin,  "  instead  of  being  hardy, 
industrious  husbandmen,  accustomed  to  labor — the  only 
sort  of  people  fit  for  such  an  enterprise"  —  consisted 
chiefly  of  "  families  of  broken  shopkeepers  and  other  in 
solvent  debtors,"  unqualified  both  by  character  and  hab 
its  for  clearing  away  forests  and  converting  a  wilderness 
into  a  fruitful  country,  or  for  encountering  the  privations 
and  the  various  exigencies  of  a  new  settlement.  The 
natural  consequences  of  such  a  beginning  speedily  fol 
lowed.  These  first  colonists  rapidly  perished,  leaving 
a  large  number  of  helpless  children,  whose  destitute  and 
wretched  condition  so  deeply  moved  the  quick  sympa 
thies  of  Whitefield,  that  he  straightway  resolved  upon 
the  project  of  erecting,  in  the  new  colony,  an  asylum  for 
the  support  and  education  of  its  numerous  orphans  ;  and 
again  turning  his  face  northward,  he  pressed  the  subject 
upon  his  hearers  as  he  advanced,  and  everywhere  so  suc 
cessfully,  that,  before  reaching  Philadelphia,  he  had  gath 
ered  a  large  amount  of  contributions  in  behalf  of  the 
undertaking. 

On   reaching  Philadelphia,   Whitefield  broached  his 
plans  and  proceedings  to  Franklin.     The  latter,  though 


EFFECT    OF    PREACHING. 

concurring  in  the  object  proposed,  showed  his  better 
judgment  and  more  practical  good  sense,  by  advising 
that,  inasmuch  as  neither  mechanics  nor  materials  for  the 
work  could  be  furnished  in  Georgia,  instead  of  incurring 
the  heavy  and  needless  cost  of  sending  everything  to  the 
new  settlement,  it  would  be  wiser,  in  every  respect,  not 
only  for  the  early  completion  of  a  suitable  edifice,  but 
for  the  proper  management  of  the  institution  afterward, 
to  erect  the  asylum  in  Philadelphia,  and  bring  the  chil 
dren  thither.  But  Whitefield  rejected  this  judicious  ad 
vice,  and  persisted  in  his  preconceived  course  with  such 
stubbornness,  that  Franklin,  offended  at  his  obstinacy, 
determined  he  would  give  nothing  in  aid  of  the  underta 
king.  To  this  determination,  however,  he  did  not  long 
adhere;  and  he  has  himself  related  the  manner  in  which 
it  was  overcome,  as  an  illustration  of  the  power  of  White- 
field's  preaching.  The  anecdote  is  tqp.  interesting  to  be 
omitted,  and  is  best  told  in  his  own  words. 

"  I  happened  soon  after,"  says  Franklin,  "  to  attend 
one  of  his  sermons,  in  the  course  of  which  I  perceived  he 
intended  to  finish  with  a  collection,  and  I  silently  resolved 
he  should  get  nothing  from  me.  I  had  in  my  pocket  a 
handful  of  copper  money,  three  or  four  silver  dollars, 
and  five  pistoles  in  gold.  As  he  proceeded  I  began  to 
soften,  and  concluded  to  give  the  copper.  Another  stroke 
of  his  oratory  made  me  ashamed  of  that,  and  determined 
me  to  give  the  silver;  and  he  finished  so  admirably,  that 
I  emptied  my  pocket  wholly  into  the  collector's  dish,  gold 
and  all." 

Another  hearer  who  agreed  with  Franklin  in  rela 
tion  to  the  asylum,  no  less  a  man  than  Thomas  Hopkin- 
son,  the  father  of  Francis,  was  swayed  in  like  manner  by 
the  same  sermon.  To  secure  himself  against  the  influ 
ence  of  the  preacher,  he  had  purposely  omitted  to  bring 
any  money  with  him  ;  but  as  the  discourse  drew  to  an 


240  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN     FRANKLIN. 

end,  he  became  so  warm  with  the  desire  to  give,  that  he 
turned  to  a  Quaker  standing  by  him,  an  old  acquaintance, 
to  borrow  money  for  the  purpose.  The  excitement  of 
his  feelings  is  well  indicated  by  the  answer  of  the  Qua 
ker.  "  At  any  other  time,  Friend  Hopkinson,"  said  he, 
"  I  would  lend  to  rhee  freely,  but  riot  now,  for  thou  seem- 
est  to  be  out  of  thy  right  senses." 

Though  Franklin  and  Hopkinson  were  both  men  of 
quick  and  generous  feelings,  yet  were  they  also  men  of 
cultivated  minds,  and  not  likely  to  be  much  moved  by 
coarse  and  spurious  appeals  to  their  sympathies  ;  so  that 
the  testimony  thus  borne  by  them  to  the  persuasive  pow 
er  of  Whitefield's  eloquence,  may  be  considered  une 
quivocal  and  conclusive. 

In  repelling  some  insinuations  which  had  been  thrown 
out  against  Whitefield's  fidelity  in  applying  the  money 
he  was  collecting  for  the  orphan  asylum,  Franklin,  in  the 
most  explicit  terms,  has  declared  his  conviction  that  "  he 
was  in  all  his  conduct  a  perfectly  honest  man."  No  man, 
probably,  knew  Whitefield  more  thoroughly  than  did 
Franklin  ;  who,  besides  having  entertained  him  as  a  guest 
at  his  own  house,  and  seen  much  of  him  in  social  inter 
course,  had  also  transacted  a  good  deal  of  business  with 
him,  as  the  printer  and  publisher  of  four  volumes  of  his 
sermons  and  journals;  so  that  these  facts,  taken  in  con 
nexion  with  Franklin's  quick  and  clear  insight  into  char 
acter,  seem  to  render  his  testimony  conclusive. 

Franklin,  moreover,  fully  confirms  the  traditionary 
statements  respecting  the  vast  multitudes,  counted  by 
thousands,  which  flocked  together,  on  foot,  on  wheels, 
and  on  horseback,  and  not  heeding  the  weather,  re 
mained  for  hours  in  the  open  air,  to  listen  to  the  fervid 
eloquence  of  the  man,  who,  for  his  power  in  swaying 
masses,  must  probably  be  regarded  as  the  most  remark 
able  preacher  of  modern  times. 


REACH    OP    THE    VOICE.  241 

His  voice  was  doubtless  one  of  the  means  of  his  pow 
er.  "  Whitefield,"  says  Franklin,  "had  a  loud  and  clear 
voice,  and  he  articulated  his  words  so  perfectly,  that  he 
might  be  heard  and  understood  at  a  great  distance."  To 
test  this  distance,  Franklin  once  took  an  opportunity, 
when  Whitefield  was  preaching  from  the  steps  of  the 
Philadelphia  courthouse.  These  steps,  it  appears,  stood 
on  the  line  of  one  side  of  Second  street,  and  fronted  the 
middle  of  Market  street ;  so  that  people,  to  the  right  and 
left,  in  the  former  street,  and  in  front  in  the  latter,  could 
both  see  and  hear  the  speaker.  By  varying  his  distance 
to  the  front,  in  Market  street,  Franklin  found  that  he 
could  distinctly  hear  and  understand  all  that  was  uttered, 
until  he  had  receded  very  nearly  to  Front  street.  Ta 
king  that  distance  as  the  radius  of  a  semicircle  filled  with 
listeners,  and  allowing  two  square  feet  to  each,  he  com 
puted  that  the  preacher  "  might  be  well  heard  by  more 
than  thirty  thousand."  This  computation,  it  will  be 
seen,  makes  no  allowance  for  the  number  of  persons, 
who,  if  in  the  open  field,  might  hear  distinctly,  though 
back  of  the  speaker  ;  a  number  sufficient,  probably,  to 
balance  the  advantage  gained,  in  point  of  distance,  by  the 
passage  of  the  voice  along  a  street  compactly  built  on 
both  sides  ;  and  Franklin  adds  that  his  experiment  "  rec 
onciled  him  to  the  accounts  of  Whitefield's  having 
preached  to  twenty-five  thousand  in  the  fields,"  as  well 
as  to  what  he  had  read  of  armies  harangued  by  their 
leaders. 

Franklin  expresses  his  belief  that  Whitefield  would  not 
only  have  better  consulted  his  reputation,  but  would  have 
retained  a  stronger  hold  on  the  admiration  of  the  world, 
and  secured  a  larger  body  of  followers,  if  he  had  never 
published  any  of  his  sermons  or  other  writings,  but  had 
intrusted  his  opinions  and  his  fame  to  oral  tradition  and 
the  zeal  of  his  proselytes. 

21 


242  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

A  further  brief  reference,  in  this  connexion,  to  Frank 
lin's  own  religious  views  at  this  period,  seems  proper,  in 
order  to  keep  pace  with  the  progress  of  his  mind  as  he 
advanced  in  years ;  and  it  will  be  the  more  interesting  from 
the  fact  that  the  expression  of  them  was  called  forth  in 
his  correspondence  with  his  parents,  now  drawing  near 
the  close  of  life. 

It  appears  that  in  March,  1738,  his  father  wrote  him 
a  letter,  in  which  much  concern  was  expressed,  on  be 
half  of  both  his  parents,  lest  he  had  embraced  some  dan 
gerous  errors.  In  his  reply,  dated  the  13th  of  April 
ensuing,  and  marked  throughout  by  filial  respect  and  af 
fection,  Franklin,  readily  admitting  his  full  share  of  errors, 
observes,  in  substance,  that  considering  the  infirmities  of 
our  nature,  "the  influences  of  education,  custom,  books, 
and  company,"  it  would  evince  both  vanity  and  presump 
tion  in  any  man  to  claim  that  "  all  the  doctrines  he  holds 
are  true,  and  all  he  rejects  are  false  ;"  that  he  thought 
"  opinions  should  be  judged  of  by  their  influences  and 
effects  ;  and  if  a  man  holds  none  that  tend  to  make  him 
less  virtuous,  or  more  vicious,  it  may  be  concluded  he 
holds  none  that  are  dangerous,"  which  he  trusted  was 
his  own  case  ;  that  "  since  it  is  no  more  in  a  man's  pow 
er  to  think  than  to  look  like  another,  all  that  should  be 
expected  of  him  was  to  keep  his  mind  open  to  conviction, 
to  hear  patiently,  and  to  examine  attentively,  whatever 
is  offered  ;"  that  he  had  paid  little  regard  to  sectarian 
distinctions ;  that,  as  he  thought,  "  vital  religion  always 
suffers,  when  orthodoxy  is  more  regarded  than  virtue ;" 
and  that  the  Scriptures  assure  us  the  awards  of  the  final 
judgment  will  turn,  "  not  on  what  we  "have  thought,  but 
what  we  have  done." 

While  on  this  topic  it  may  be  well  to  cite  an  affection 
ate  letter  of  his  to  his  sister,  Mrs.  Jane  Mecom,  written 
a  few  years  later,  and  speaking  somewhat  more  fully  on 


HIS    PARTNERSHIPS.  .243 

one  or  two  points.  It  seems  that  she  had  received  the 
impression,  as  he  understood  some  passages  in  a  letter 
from  her,  that  he  held  the  opinion  that  "  good  works," 
would  merit  heaven,  and  that  God  was  not  to  be  wor 
shipped. 

These  ideas  he  repelled  by  replying  to  his  sister,  that 
"so  far  from  thinking  that  God  is  not  to  be  worshipped, 
he  had  composed  a  book  of  devotions,  for  his  own  use  ;" 
and  that  in  his  belief,  "  there  are  few  if  any  in  the  world 
so  weak  as  to  imagine,  that  the  little  good  we  can  do 
here,  can  merit  so  vast  a  reward  hereafter  ;"  that  there 
were  "  some  things  in  the  New  England  doctrine  and 
worship,  which  he  could  not  agree  with  ;"  but  that  he 
"did  not  therefore  condemn  them,  or  desire  to  shake 
her  belief  or  practice  of  them."  He  then  advises  his 
sister  to  read  certain  portions  of  "  the  late  book  of  Mr. 
Edwards,  on  the  revival  of  religion  in  New  England ;" 
and  adds  ;  "  when  you  judge  of  others,  if  you  can  per 
ceive  the  fruit  to  be  good,  do  not  terrify  yourself  that 
the  tree  may  be  evil,  but  be  assured  that  it  is  not  so ;  for 
you  know  who  has  said  that  men  do  not  gather  grapes 
from  thorns,  nor  figs  from  thistles" 

Franklin's  private  affairs  were  now  in  a  very  prosper 
ous  condition.  His  newspaper,  which  had  obtained  a 
very  extensive  circulation,  and  was,  indeed,  the  only  one 
of  much  importance  in  Pennsylvania  and  the  adjacent 
colonies,  had  become  "very  profitable,"  and  his  "busi 
ness  was  constantly  augmenting."  In  these  circumstan 
ces,  as  he  had  found  his  partnership  at  Charleston  a 
gainful  one,  he  formed  others,  with  several  persons,  who 
had,  while  in  his  employ,  acquired  his  confidence  both 
as  good  workmen  and  as  competent  to  manage  busi 
ness  ;  thus  enabling  them  to  establish  themselves  advan 
tageously,  while  his  own  interest  was  also  promoted. 

These  partnerships  present  so  judicious  a  mode  of 


244  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

assisting  young  men  of  merit,  who  have  a  good  trade, 
but  no  money,  to  set  themselves  up  in  life,  that  it  may 
be  useful  to  state  the  general  terms  on  which  they  were 
formed.  Franklin  furnished  those  portions  of  the  stock 
which  required  the  principal  outlay  of  capital,  such  as 
the  press  and  types  ;  while  the  less  costly  articles  were 
supplied  by  the  other  partner,  as  the  wants  of  business 
required.  The  charges  for  rent,  ink,  paper,  and  oth 
er  current  expenses  of  the  office,  were  deducted  from 
the  gross  earnings,  and  then,  of  the  residue  of  both  cash 
and  debts,  Franklin  took  one  third  and  his  partner  two 
thirds.  These  contracts  were  usually  limited  to  six  years, 
at  the  end  of  which  his  partners  were  able,  in  most 
cases,  to  buy  out  Franklin's  interest,  and  go  on  success 
fully  with  the  business  for  themselves.  To  avoid  the 
disputes,  which  so  frequently  disturb  and  break  up  such 
connections,  Franklin  made  it  a  point  to  put  all  the  con 
ditions  and  obligations  on  both  sides,  in  writing;  justly 
remarking  that,  whatever  may  "  be  the  mutual  esteem 
and  confidence  of  the  parties,  in  the  outset,  some  idea 
of  unequal  participation  in  the  burdens  of  the  concern, 
is  but  too  likely  to  lead  to  discontents  and  jealousies, 
followed  by  breach  of  friendship,  animosity,  and  expen 
sive  lawsuits." 

Another  feature  of  these  contracts  of  partnership, 
which  Franklin  has  omitted  to  mention,  must,  no  doubt, 
have  contributed  materially  to  their  success.  They  were 
obviously  liberal  on  his  part.  He  had  the  good  sense 
to  understand  that  hard  bargains,  whatever  seeming  ad 
vantages  they  may,  at  first,  promise  to  the  party  who 
may  have  the  power  to  prescribe  terms,  are  seldom  the 
most  beneficial  in  their  results  ;  and  that  not  only  equity, 
but  sound  policy  also,  requires  that  contracts  covering 
any  considerable  length  of  time,  especially  such  as  re 
late  to  a  business,  which,  though  demanding  a  moderate 


EFFORT    TO    PROMOTE    EDUCATION.  245 

investment  of  money,  must  depend  more  on  labor  than 
capital,  for  its  productiveness,  should  be  mutually  advan 
tageous  to  be  faithfully  executed,  and  prove,  on  the 
whole,  really  beneficial. 

No  success  in  business,  or  in  the  accumulation  of  prop 
erty,  could  be  more  legitimate  in  itself,  or  more  valuable 
as  an  example,  than  Franklin's ;  for  it  was  the  result  of 
his  own  industry,  prudence,  and  well-directed  enterprise  ; 
and  he  enjoyed  his  prosperity  with  a  modest  and  grate 
ful  satisfaction.  Having  provided  for  the  welfare  of  his 
family,  and  thus  not  only  contented  his  sense  of  duty, 
but  secured  the  means  of  gratifying  his  affections,  he  so 
arranged  his  private  concerns,  that,  with  ordinary  over 
sight  and  care,  his  business  would  continue  to  yield  a 
moderately-increasing  income  ;  and  thus  he  enabled  him 
self  to  give  more  time  to  the  studies  he  liked  best,  as  well 
as  to  the  public  interests. 

The  community  to  which  he  belonged,  though  in  the 
main  a  thriving  one,  was  still  destitute  of  some  valuable 
institutions,  which  a  little  public  spirit,  if  judiciously  di 
rected,  might  easily  supply.  Among  these  were  a  native 
military  force,  properly  organized,  for  the  protection  of 
the  province  ;  seminaries  for  the  education  of  youth  in  the 
higher  branches  of  knowledge  ;  and  some  form  of  associa 
tion  among  men  of  mature  years,  more  or  less  habitually 
engaged  in  the  pursuit  of  knowledge,  to  promote  the 
investigation  of  facts  in  the  physical  sciences,  and  the 
more  systematic  cultivation  of  natural  philosophy. 

In  1743,  in  the  hope  of  supplying  some  of  the  defi 
ciencies  referred  to,  Franklin  digested  a  plan  for  an 
academy,  at  the  head  of  which  he  proposed  that  the 
Rev.  Hugh  Peters,  then  unemployed,  should  be  placed 
as  principal.  That  gentleman,  however,  looking,  as  he 
then  was,  for  a  more  profitable  station,  which  he  shortly 
found,  in  the  service  of  the  Proprietaries  of  the  province, 

21* 


246  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

as  provincial  secretary,  declined  the  proffered  appoint 
ment  ;  and  as  Franklin  was  not  acquainted  with  any 
other  person,  whom  he  considered  properly  qualified  for 
the  place  in  question,  the  project  of  the  academy  was 
necessarily  deferred.  The  plan  of  an  academy  as  drawn 
up  by  Franklin,  is  to  be  found  in  his  works  ;  and  it  does 
honor  to  the  author,  by  its  enlightened  and  liberal  views 
of  what  should  be  deemed  a  thorough  practical  course 
of  instruction,  for  at  least  the  more  intelligent  classes  of 
people  living  under  free  institutions,  and  responsible  for 
the  just  and  successful  administration  of  public  affairs,  as 
well  as  the  proper  discharge  of  their  social  and  civil 
duties. 

Another  plan,  which,  about  the  same  time,  he  pro 
posed,  for  the  formation  of  a  philosophical  society,  met 
more  immediate  success.  This  plan  was  drawn  up  in 
the  form  of  a  circular,  dated  May  14,  1743,  when  he 
was  37  years  old,  and  sent  to  all  who  had  any  reputation 
for  science  in  the  several  colonies  ;  and  in  the  spring  of 
1744,  the  first  organization  was  effected.  In  a  letter, 
dated  on  the  5th  of  April,  1744,  to  Cadwallader  Golden, 
then  the  most  distinguished  man  in  the  colony  of  New 
York,  for  scientific  attainments,  Franklin,  after  stating 
that  the  society  was  actually  formed  and  had  already 
had  several  meetings,  gives  a  list  of  the  original  mem 
bers,  with  the  department  of  knowledge  to  which  each 
was  expected  to  pay  especial  attention. 

It  can  hardly  fail  to  gratify  the  reader  of  the  present 
time,  to  see  who  were  considered  as  in  the  van  of  sci 
ence  at  that  early  day ;  and  as  the  list  is  short,  we  copy 
it.  Dr.  Thomas  Bond,  a  physician,  stands  first  on  the 
roll,  and  was  to  give  his  more  particular  attention  to  in 
quiries  and  communications  on  medical  subjects  ;  John 
Bartram,  for  botany  ;  Thomas  Godfrey,  for  mathemat 
ics  ;  Samuel  Rhoades.  for  mechanics  ;  William  Parsons, 


FIRST    PHILOSOPHICAL    SOCIETY.  247 

for  geography  ;  Dr.  Phineas  Bond,  for  natural  philoso 
phy  ;  Thomas  Hopkinson,  was  president  of  the  society  : 
William  Coleman,  treasurer,  and  Benjamin  Franklin, 
secretary.  To  these,  who  were  resident  in  Pennsylvania* 
had  been  added,  prior  to  the  date  of  the  letter  just  men 
tioned,  Mr.  Alexander,  of  New  York  ;  Mr.  Morris,  chief 
justice,  and  Mr.  Home,  colonial  secretary,  of  New 
Jersey  ;  and  Mr.  Martin  and  Mr.  John  Coxe,  private 
citizens  of  Trenton,  in  the  same  colony.  Several  emi 
nent  men  of  Virginia,  Maryland,  and  the  New  England 
colonies,  were  expected  to  join,  as  soon  as  they  should 
learn  that  the  society  was  actually  in  operation  ;  but 
their  names  are  not  stated. 

This  association,  though  its  commencement  seemed  to 
promise  considerable  activity,  pretty  soon  began  to  lan 
guish.  One  or  two  associations,  more  or  less  resembling 
it.  were  organized  in  the  course  of  subsequent  years, 
when,  finally  in  1768,  the  original  society,  and  the  Medi 
cal  Society  of  Philadelphia,  after  considerable  negotia 
tion,  merged  themselves  in  a  single  body  under  the  title 
of  "  The  American  Philosophical  Society  held  at  Phila 
delphia  for  the  Promotion  of  Useful  Knowledge."  This 
consolidation  took  eifect  in  January,  1769  :  and  the  insti 
tution  thus  formed  has  continued  to  the  present  day. 

This  association,  projected  in  1743,  but  not  actually 
organized  till  the  spring  of  1744,  was  the  first  movement 
of  the  kind,  for  promoting  philosophical  inquiry,  in  the 
colonies.  In  the  latter  year  Franklin  published  a  valu 
able  tract  on  fire-places.  Two  years  before,  in  1742,  he 
had  devised  the  plan  of  the  stove  which  became  so  cele 
brated  under  his  name  ;  and  after  testing  its  qualities  to 
his  entire  satisfaction,  he  had  made  a  present  of  the  pat 
tern  and  the  whole  property  in  it,  to  his  friend  Robert 
Grace,  who  was  the  owner  of  a  furnace  for  casting  iron 
wares.  To  enhance  the  value  of  the  gift,  by  extend- 


248  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

ing  the  sale  of  the  stove,  Franklin  drew  up  the  paper 
referred  to,  and  published  it,  in  1744.  It  is  entitled 
"  An  Account  of  the  New-Invented  Pennsylvania  Fire- 
Places  ;"  and  may  be  found  in  the  6th  volume  of  his 
works,  as  edited  by  Dr.  Sparks.  It  is  interesting  and  in 
structive,  both  for  its  historical  details  respecting  the  more 
important  methods  of  warming  houses  in  the  principal 
countries  of  Europe,  and  for  its  explanation  of  the  prin 
ciples  on  which  fuel  is  economized,  and  health  and  com 
fort  secured  by  the  manner  in  which  heat  is  produced 
and  distributed. 

Franklin's  stove  was  planned  upon  the  soundest  prin 
ciples  ;  and  for  diffusing  a  pleasant,  uniform,  healthful 
warmth,  especially  in  the  parlor  and  the  study,  with 
wood  for  fuel,  we  do  not  believe  it  has  been  surpassed, 
if  equalled,  when  constructed  and  set  up  in  full  accord 
ance  with  the  plan  and  directions  of  its  inventor ;  for  it 
should  be  observed  that  the  stoves,  which,  under  his 
name,  have  been  generally  used,  since  the  present  centu 
ry  came  in,  have  not,  in  truth,  been  Franklin's  ;  the  dis 
tinctive  and  most  valuable  part  of  the  genuine  stove,  (the 
air-box,  or  space  between  the  plate  immediately  back  of 
the  fire,  and  the  real  back-plate  of  the  stove,)  having 
been  wholly  omitted,  and  the  peculiar  mode  of  setting  it 
up,  disregarded,  so  that  little  else  than  a  mere  shell  of 
the  original  Pennsylvania  fire-place,  has  been  retained. 

Though  the  invention  of  this  valuable  fire-place  was 
strictly  original  with  Franklin,  and  his  title  to  an  exclu 
sive  property  in  it  was  of  the  most  valid  kind,  yet  he  re 
fused  to  secure  it  to  himself;  assigning,  as  his  reason, 
to  those  who  urged  him  to  do  so,  that  "  as  we  enjoy 
great  advantages  from  the  inventions  of  others,  we  should 
be  glad  of  an  opportunity  to  serve  others,  by  any  inven 
tions  of  our  own ;  and  this  we  should  do  freely  and 
generously." 


PATENT-llIGHTS PUBLIC    DEFENCE.  249 

This  reason  is  characteristic  of  the  liberal  spiiit  of  the 
author,  and  consistent  with  the  whole  tenor  of  his  life ; 
but  it  should  not  be  used  as  an  argument  against  the 
practice  of  those  who  secure  to  themselves,  for  their  own 
benefit  and  that  of  their  families,  an  exclusive  property, 
for  a  certain  period,  in  their  own  inventions.  Nothing, 
surely,  can  belong  to  an  individual  man,  considered  dis 
tinctly  from  other  men,  so  exclusively  and  absolutely,  as 
the  faculties  of  mind  and  his  time.  No  property,  there 
fore,  can  be  so  entirely  and  truly  his  own,  as  that  which 
he  creates,  by  employing  his  time  and  faculties  in  apply 
ing  his  knowledge  to  important  practical  uses  ;  and  no 
private  emolument  can  be  more  just  and  honorable  than 
that,  which  a  man  derives  from  his  contributions  to  the 
common  benefit  of  society. 

Besides  these  exertions  in  the  cause  of  education,  sci 
ence,  and  domestic  comfort,  Franklin  made  a  strenuous, 
and  to  a  very  important  extent,  a  successful  effort,  to  ef 
fect  a  military  organization  of  the  able-bodied  population 
of  the  province,  for  its  defence  against  both  invasion  on 
the  sea-board,  and  the  inroads  of  the  Indian  tribes  on 
the  frontiers.  The  action  of  the  provincial  government, 
on  this  important  subject,  had  been  controlled  by  the 
Quakers.  As  the  majority  of  the  provincial  Assembly 
usually  consisted  of  members  of  that  denomination,  and 
such  as  voted  with  them,  all  endeavors  to  procure  a  gen 
eral  and  permanent  act  for  embodying  and  training  an 
efficient  militia,  had  failed. 

Great  Britain  had,  for  several  years,  been  engaged  in 
a  war  with  Spain,  with  which  country  France  had  now 
at  last  taken  part.  When  it  is  recollected  that  France 
was  then,  not  only  in  full  possession  of  the  Canadas,  but 
that,  by  means  of  a  succession  of  posts,  extending  from 
the  mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  along  the  valley  of  that 
river,  the  great  lakes,  the  Ohio,  and  the  Mississippi,  to 


250  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

New  Orleans,  she  covered  and  commanded  the  whole 
vast  frontier  of  the  British  settlements  ;  that  those  posts 
were  trading  stations,  as  well  as  military  positions,  and, 
in  connection  with  a  numerous  band  of  Jesuit  missiona 
ries,  gave  her  an  unrivalled  influence  with  most  of  the 
more  powerful  Indian  tribes,  it  will  be  readily  seen 
that  the  dangers  to  which  the  colonies  were  exposed, 
were  well  calculated  to  fill  the  breasts  of  reflecting  men, 
even  the  most  resolute  and  firm,  with  the  liveliest  anx 
iety. 

As  it  had  been  found  impracticable  to  obtain  a  law 
for  a  general  military  organization,  Franklin  proposed 
to  effect  as  extensive  an  embodiment  of  force  as  possible 
by  voluntary  subscription.  To  prepare  the  way  for 
such  a  step,  by  pressing  the  subject  upon  the  public 
mind,  he  wrote  and  published  a  pamphlet  entitled  "  Plain 
Truth."  In  this  he  set  forth  the  defenceless  condition 
of  the  province,  and  the  necessity  and  duty  of  combina 
tion  and  discipline,  in  as  impressive  language  as  he 
could  command  ;  anticipated  and  answered  objections, 
particularly  such  as  had  been  more  commonly  urged 
among  the  people  at  large  ;  and  announced  that  articles 
of  association  would  shortly  be  presented  for  general 
subscription,  to  serve  as  a  basis  for  the  enrolment,  organ 
ization,  and  training,  of  such  of  the  people  as  should 
come  forward,  in  this  way,  for  the  patriotic  purpose  of 
defending  the  community  from  aggression  and  injury. 

The  effect  of  this  appeal  to  the  people  was  surprising 
and  decisive.  The  articles  of  association  were  promptly 
called  for;  and  having  settled  the  main  points,  in  consul 
tation  with  a  few  judicious  friends,  Franklin  drew  them 
up  in  due  form,  and  gave  notice  of  a  meeting,  at  which 
they  would  be  presented  for  subscription.  The  meeting 
was  well  attended  ;  numerous  printed  copies,  with  pens 
and  inkstands,  were  distributed  among  the  assemblage  to 


VOLUNTEER    MILITIA.  251 

expedite  the  signing  ;  and,  after  Franklin  had  read  the 
articles,  and  made  a  few  remarks  on  their  scope  and  ob 
ject,  they  were,  as  he  relates,  "  eagerly  signed,  not  the 
least  objection  being  made." 

Upon  collecting  the  several  papers,  after  the  meeting, 
twelve  hundred  subscriptions  were  counted  up  as  the  re 
sult  of  this  first  movement,  in  Philadelphia  only  ;  and 
the  articles  being  distributed  throughout  the  province, 
the  number  of  men  who  thus  voluntarily  pledged  them 
selves  to  unite  for  the  common  defence,  rose  to  upward 
often  thousand.  They  all  equipped  themselves  as  prompt 
ly  as  circumstances  permitted  ;  formed  themselves  into 
companies  and  regiments,  under  officers  of  their  own 
choice,  and  turned  out  weekly  to  drill.  The  women,  ev 
er  at  least  as  ready  as  their  brethren  to  obey  the  call  of 
patriotism,  in  their  own  sphere  of  action,  furnished  the 
respective  corps  with  the  requisite  banners,  which  were 
handsomely  emblazoned  with  bearings  chiefly  devised 
by  Franklin ;  who  was  elected  colonel  of  the  Philadel 
phia  regiment,  in  the  first  instance ;  but  not  deeming 
himself  particularly  qualified  for  military  command,  he 
modestly  declined  the  office,  suggesting  that  a  Mr.  Law 
rence,  (his  individual  name  is  not  given,)  should  be  cho 
sen  instead,  which  was  accordingly  done. 

Much  alarm  had  been  created,  about  this  time  in  Phil 
adelphia,  by  the  appearance  of  a  Spanish  privateer  in 
Delaware  bay.  Franklin's  next  proposal  was,  therefore, 
to  construct  a  battery  at  a  suitable  point  on  the  bank  of 
the  Delaware  river  below  the  city  ;  and  to  defray  the 
expense  of  the  work  he  prepared  a  scheme  for  a  lottery. 
The  plan  was  promptly  adopted  and  the  battery  erected, 
with  a  strong  breastwork  of  log-cribs  filled  with  earth. 
A  few  cannon,  procured  at  Boston,  were  placed  in  the 
battery ;  but  more  being  wanted,  orders  were  sent  for 
them  to  London,  and  application  was  also  made  to  the 


252  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

Proprietaries  of  the  province  for  aid.  But  as  considera 
ble  time  must  elapse  before  these  measures  could  take 
effect,  a  committee  of  four,  Franklin  being  one,  was  de 
spatched,  on  behalf  of  the  military  association,  to  New- 
York,  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  the  necessary  ord 
nance,  as  a  loan,  to  be  returned  when  their  own  supply 
should  be  received.  This  mission  resulted  in  obtaining 
eighteen  guns.  "  They  were  fine  cannon  ;"  says  Frank 
lin,  "  eighteen-pounders,  with  their  carriages,  which  were 
soon  transported  and  mounted  on  our  batteries,  where 
the  association  kept  a  nightly  guard,  while  the  war  last 
ed,"  Franklin  taking  his  own  turn  duly,  "  as  a  common 
soldier." 

The  public  spirit,  energy,  and  capacity,  displayed  by 
Franklin,  in  these  emergencies,  gained  him  the  respect 
and  confidence  of  the  governor  and  council ;  and  they 
advised  with  him  whenever  their  co-operation  with  the 
association  was  deemed  expedient.  At  his  suggestion, 
too,  they  proclaimed  a  public  fast,  to  be  accompanied  by 
appropriate  religious  services,  throughout  the  colony. 
As  this  was  the  first  event  of  the  kind,  however,  in  Penn 
sylvania,  Franklin,  as  a  New-Englander  and  familiar 
with  the  usages  on  such  occasions,  was  requested  to  pre 
pare  the  proclamation.  He  accordingly  drew  up  one, 
and  it  was  sent  throughout  the  province,  both  in  German 
and  English.  The  clergy  availed  themselves  of  the  pro 
mulgation  of  this  document,  to  commend  the  association 
to  the  approbation  of  the  people  and  urge  them  to  join 
it ;  and  it  would  soon,  probably,  have  embraced  most  of 
the  population  able  to  bear  arms,  except  the  Quakers, 
had  not  peace  shortly  superseded  this  appeal  to  their 
patriotism. 

Some  of  Franklin's  personal  friends  felt  apprehensive 
that  the  leading  part  he  took,  in  the  military  arrangements 
mentioned,  would  deprive  him  of  the  favor  he  enjoyed 


HIS  RULE  AS  TO  PUBLIC  OFFICE.         253 

among  the  Quakers,  who  always  had  a  strong  majority 
in  the  provincial  Assembly;  and  that  he  would  thus  lose 
the  clerkship  of  that  body.  A  certain  young  man,  who 
was  exceedingly  desirous  to  be  clerk  himself,  told  Frank 
lin,  one  day,  that  it  had  been  determined  to  reject  him, 
when  the  choice  of  that  officer  should  come  up,  at  the 
next  session  ;  and  advised  him  to  decline  being  a  candi 
date,  rather  than  suffer  the  mortification  of  a  defeat. 
Franklin's  reply  to  his  adviser,  whose  motive  he  well  un 
derstood,  was  quite  characteristic.  He  said  to  him  at 
once,  that  he  liked  the  rule,  adopted  by  a  man  he  had 
read  of,  neither  to  seek  nor  refuse  office  ;  and  that  he 
should  act  on  the  same  rule,  with  only  a  single  addition  ; 
for,  said  he  —  "I  shall  never  ask,  never  refuse,  nor  ev 
er  resign  an  office  ;"  adding  that,  if  the  Assembly  intend 
ed  to  give  the  clerkship  to  another,  they  should  "  first 
take  it"  from  him,  as  he  would  not,  by  resigning  it,  fore 
go  his  "  right  of  some  time  or  other  making  reprisal  on 
his  adversaries." 

The  above  answer  disposed  of  his  competitor,  and  at 
the  next  session  Franklin  was  again  made  clerk  without 
opposition;  for,  while  he  had  discharged  the  duties  of 
that  office,  in  the  most  correct  and  acceptable  manner, 
the  majority  were  too  shrewd  to  reject  him  for  the  sole 
reason  that  he  had  exerted  himself,  most  efficiently,  in 
providing  for  the  defence  and  safety  of  the  community. 
Besides,  it  was  by  no  means  certain,  and  subsequent  oc 
currences  fully  showed  the  fact,  that  even  the  non-com 
batant  Quakers  really  disliked  the  military  measures  in 
question,  so  long  as  they  were  not  personally  required 
to  take  part  in  them.  Franklin,  indeed,  states  that,  al 
though  they  were  opposed  to  offensive  war,  yet  he  found 
"  a  much  greater  number  of  them  than  he  could  have 
imagined,"  unequivocally  in  favor  of  such  measures  as 
were  neccessary  for  defence ;  and  that  of  the  "  many 

22 


254  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

pamphlets,  pro  and  con,  published  on  the  subject,"  some 
which  were  in  favor  of  defensive  preparations,  were  writ 
ten  "  by  good  Quakers." 

These  views,  on  the  part  of  that  class  of  people,  were 
still  further  manifested  by  the  proceedings  of  the  fire- 
company,  to  which  Franklin  belonged,  but  which  con 
sisted  mostly  of  Quakers,  a  majority  of  whom,  on  a  mo 
tion  made  by  him,  voted  to  appropriate  the  company's 
surplus  funds,  amounting  to  sixty  pounds,  to  the  pur 
chase  of  tickets  in  the  lottery  formed  to  defray  the  cost 
of  the  battery,  already  mentioned,  for  the  defence  of  the 
city. 

The  truth  is,  the  non-combatant  principles  of  the  Qua 
kers  gave  them,  in  the  then  existing  exigencies  of  the 
province,  not  a  little  embarrassment,  especially  whenev 
er  application  was  made  to  the  Assembly,  on  behalf  of 
the  Crown,  for  grants  of  money,  for  the  public  defence. 
The  result  of  such  applications  was,  generally,  a  grant 
of  the  sums  needed,  but  so  worded  as  to  evade  an  ex 
plicit  and  direct  appropriation  for  warlike  purposes. 
The  usual  form  of  the  grant  was  "  for  the  king's  use," 
without  particularizing  the  objects  for  which  the  money 
was  to  be  actually  expended. 

The  form  mentioned  served  well  enough,  when  the 
call  came  directly  from  the  king;  but  in  other  cases  a 
different  phraseology  was  requisite,  and  the  selection  of 
it  was  occasionally  marked  by  as  much  humor  as  shrewd 
ness.  When  for  instance,  a  request  came  from  one  of 
the  New  England  colonies  for  a  supply  of  powder,  the 
Assembly  of  Pennsylvania  would  not  vote  money  for  the 
purchase  of  the  black-grained  munition  of  war,  under  its 
own  distinctive  name  of  gun-powder  ;  but  they  voted 
three  thousand  pounds,  to  be  subject  to  the  governor's 
order,  "  for  the  purchase  of  bread,  flour,  wheat,  or  other 
grain"  To  tease  the  Quaker  majority  of  the  Assembly, 


COMMITMENT    TO    OPINIONS.  255 

the  Governor  was  urged  in  Council  to  refuse  the  grant, 
as  not  pursuant  to  his  call;  but  he  well  understood  the 
equivocal  term,  and  as  it  was  no  time  for  trifling,  he  drew 
the  money  ;  and  though  the  grain  he  bought  with  it,  was 
not  a  kernel  of  it  wheat,  but  the  "  other  grain"  exclu 
sively,  no  complaint  was  made  by  the  Assembly. 

Another  anecdote  will  serve  further  to  illustrate  this 
mode  of  enabling  the  patriotism  of  the  Quakers  to  get 
the  advantage  of  their  passive  resistance,  and  will  give 
also  a  taste  of  Franklin's  humor  and  ingenuity.  When 
his  proposition  was  pending,  in  the  fire-company,  to  ap 
ply  its  surplus  funds  to  the  arming  of  the  battery  for  the 
defence  of  the  city,  he  was  prepared,  in  order  to  quiet, 
if  needful,  any  non-combatant  scruples  about  voting  to 
buy  cannon,  to  amend  his  motion  so  as  to  apply  the  funds 
to  the  purchase  of  fire-engines,  in  which  category  every 
sort  of  fire-arms  might  unquestionably  be  classed. 

In  some  remarks  on  these  embarrassments  of  the 
Quakers,  Franklin  intimates  that  they  might  and  prob 
ably  would  have  avoided  them,  had  they  not  been  so  ful 
ly  committed,  in  print  before  the  world,  to  their  doctrine 
of  the  unlawfulness  of  force  in  all  cases  ;  and  he  takes 
the  occasion  to  question  the  wisdom  of  such  absolute  com 
mitment  to  particular  opinions,  as  constituting  a  need 
less  impediment  to  the  admission  of  new  convictions  of 
truth  and  duty,  even  when  clearly  presented  to  the  un 
derstanding,  by  further  reflection,  in  the  light  derived 
from  fuller  experience,  and  more  comprehensive  views 
of  the  various  obligations  of  civil  society.  To  furnish 
an  example  of  what  he  deemed  "  a  more  prudent  course 
of  conduct,"  he  relates  an  interesting  conversation  he 
once  had  with  one  of  the  founders  of  the  sect  of  Dunkers. 

The  man  referred  to,  Michael  Weffare  by  name,  hav 
ing  complained  of  slanderous  representations  of  the  prin 
ciples  and  practices  of  the  sect,  Franklin  remarked  that 


256  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

such  was  the  usual  fate  of  new  sects,  and  suggested  that, 
to  put  down  the  calumnies,  they  should  publish  their  ar 
ticles  of  faith  and  rules  of  discipline.  Weffare  replied, 
that  they  had  once  thought  of  doing  so,  but  had  conclu 
ded  otherwise,  for  the  reason  given  by  him  substantially 
as  follows.  When  they  first  formed  their  society,  God 
had  been  pleased,  as  they  believed,  to  give  them  light 
enough  to  see  that  some  doctrines,  which  they  had  deem 
ed  truths,  were  errors,  and  that  others,  once  deemed  er 
rors,  were  truths;  that  further  light  had  been,  by  degrees, 
imparted  to  them ;  and  that,  as  they  were  not  now  sure 
that  their  spiritual  knowledge  was  perfect,  they  feared  to 
put  their  faith  in  print,  lest  their  brethren,  and  still  more 
their  successors,  should  feel  so  bound  and  restricted 
thereby,  as  to  reject  new  lights,  and  thus  perhaps  arrest 
their  advancement  in  truth. 

Franklin  commends  the  modesty  of  the  Dunkers,  and 
adds  the  remark,  made  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  lhat 
the  Quakers,  to  escape  annoyances  of  the  kind  mention 
ed,  were  withdrawing  from  public  employments,  "  choos 
ing  rather  to  quit  their  power,  than  their  principles  ;" 
certainly  an  honorable  choice. 


NEW    PARTNERSHIP.  257 


CHAPTER    XX. 

ACADEMY NEW  PARTNERSHIP PHILOSOPHICAL  STUDIES 

PUBLIC   EMPLOYMENTS INDIAN  TREATY HOSPITAL 

CITY  STREETS POST-OFFICE ALBANY  CONVENTION 

PLAN  FOR  NEW  COLONIES PROPRIETARY  GOVERNORS 

AID  TO   MASSACHUSETTS. 

THE  war  spoken  of  in  the  last  chapter,  having  been 
terminated,  in  1748,  by  the  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle, 
the  military  association,  which  Franklin  had  taken  so 
leading  and  efficient  a  part  in  organizing,  dissolved  with 
the  return  of  peace  ;  and  he  was  enabled  to  turn  to  more 
congenial  pursuits.  About  the  same  period  he  gave  him 
self  a  still  freer  control  of  his  own  time  and  occupations, 
by  forming  a  partnership,  with  a  very  competent  and 
prudent  man,  who  had  worked  for  him  several  years,  by 
the  name  of  David  Hall,  who  took  the  entire  charge  of 
the  business  of  both  the  printing-office  and  the  bookstore. 

Being  thus  released  from  the  immediate  and  constant 
care  of  his  business  Franklin  now  again  bent  his  efforts, 
with  renewed  zeal,  to  promote  the  cause  of  sound  edu 
cation,  by  the  establishment  of  an  academy.  Associating 
with  himself  some  of  the  most  earnest  and  efficient  fa 
vorers  of  the  cause,  of  whom  the  Junto  supplied  its  full 
share,  he  then  drew  up  his  plan,  which  he  entitled  "  Pro 
posals  relating  to  the  Education  of  Youth  in  Pennsylva 
nia,"  and  placed  it  in  the  hands  of  the  leading  men  of 
the  community.  When  time  had  been  allowed  for  the 
consideration  of  the  subject,  he  started  a  subscription  ; 
22* 


258  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

and  by  judiciously  making  the  suras  subscribed,  payable 
in  five  annual  instalments,  the  amount  obtained,  as  stated 
by  Peters,  the  secretary  of  the  Proprietaries,  was  "  up 
ward  of  d£SOO  a  year."  In  doing  this,  Franklin,  though 
his  principal  associates  well  understood  the  extent  of  his 
agency,  yet  kept  himself,  in  accordance  with  a  rule  he 
had  adopted,  as  much  as  he  could  in  the  back-ground  ; 
and  when  the  "  Proposals,"  which  were  first  distributed 
in  manuscript,  were  printed,  he  spoke  of  them  in  some 
prefatory  remarks,  as  emanating  from  several  public- 
spirited  gentlemen,  at  whose  instance  they  were  printed, 
for  more  convenient  and  general  distribution. 

The  subscription  being  closed,  and  twenty-four  trus 
tees  elected,  two  of  the  number,  Franklin  and  the  pro 
vincial  attorney-general,  Francis,  being  appointed  a  com 
mittee  for  the  purpose,  prepared  a  plan  for  the  organi 
zation  and  management  of  the  academy,  which  was 
adopted,  and  the  school  was  put  in  operation.  The  pu 
pils  soon  became  so  numerous,  that  the  house  first  occu 
pied  was  found  too  small  for  their  accommodation.  It 
will  be  recollected  that  some  years  previous,  under  the 
excitement  produced  by  Whitefield's  preaching,  a  large 
ouilding  had  been  erected  for  public  worship,  irrespec 
tive  of  sectarian  distinctions  ;  and  that  the  property  and 
care  of  the  house  and  ground,  had  been  vested  in  a  legal 
ly  constituted  board  of  trustees.  The  feeling  which  led 
to  that  step  having  passed  away,  and  the  trustees  being 
embarrassed  and  annoyed  by  the  debt  it  had  created, 
Franklin,  who  was  one  of  those  trustees,  as  well  as  a 
member  of  the  academy  board,  suggested  the  expedien 
cy  of  ceding  the  whole  of  that  property,  to  the  trustees 
of  the  academy,  for  the  use  of  the  new  school.  After 
some  negotiation  this  measure  was  effected,  on  the  con 
ditions  that  the  trustees  of  the  academy,  should  pay  the 
debt  for  the  house  and  ground  ;  keep  open  a  large  hall 


THE    ACADEMY PHILOSOPHICAL    PURSUITS.          259 

for  occasional  preaching  without  distinction  of  sect;  and 
maintain  therein  a  free  school  for  the  instruction  of  poor 
children  in  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic.  This  ar 
rangement  being  consummated  in  legal  form,  the  trus 
tees  of  the  academy  discharged  the  outstanding  meeting 
house  debt,  and  being  put  in  full  possession  of  the  prop 
erly,  forthwith  converted  the  building  into  a  structure 
of  two  stories,  with  suitable  apartments  for  the  respec 
tive  schools  ;  and  a  little  additional  ground  being  pur 
chased  to  complete  the  requisite  accommodations  thither 
the  academy  was  transferred. 

The  immediate  superintendence  of  this  whole  affair, 
including  the  alterations  made  in  the  building,  the  pur 
chase  of  materials,  the  hiring  of  workmen,  and  all  other 
details,  devolved  on  Franklin.  Some  years  after,  the 
academy  board  was  regularly  incorporated  by  a  charter 
from  the  provincial  government;  their  funds  were  largely 
augmented  by  contributions  from  England,  as  well  as  by 
donations  of  land  from  the  Proprietaries  and  from  the 
provincial  assembly ;  and  this  academy  subsequently  ex 
panded  into  the  university  of  Pennsylvania. 

Having  acquired  "  a  sufficient  though  moderate  for 
tune,"  as  he  termed  it,  Franklin,  in  arranging  his  private 
affairs,  as  already  mentioned,  intended  and  expected  thus 
to  enable  himself  to  devote  his  life  mainly  to  those  literary 
pursuits,  and  especially  to  those  philosophical  researches, 
to  which  he  was  so  strongly  drawn  by  his  predominant 
tastes  and  the  bent  of  his  genius,  and  in  which  he  had  al 
ready  made  no  unimportant  advances.  To  say  nothing 
here  of  his  numerous  pieces  on  the  economy  of  private 
life  and  the  prudent  conduct  of  private  affairs,  which  had 
ranked  him,  while  yet  in  middle  age,  among  the  most 
sagacious  observers  of  his  own  time  or  any  other ;  and 
to  pass  over  various  well-considered  tracts,  filled  with 
enlightened  views  on  the  rightful  foundation  and  objects 


260  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

of  all  just  government,  on  the  freedom  of  speech  and  of 
the  press,  and  other  topics  connected  with  political  and 
civil  rights  and  obligations;  he  had  indicated,  as  early  as 
1737,  the  wide  range  of  his  studies,  in  an  instructive 
paper,  in  which  he  collected  all  the  valuable  observations 
of  ancient  and  modern  writers  on  the  causes  and  chief 
phenomena  of  earthquakes,  followed,  at  intervals  in  the 
few  years  immediately  succeeding,  by  experiments  and 
speculations  on  various  points  of  animal  physiology  and 
other  physical  questions,  discussed  in  a  continually-grow 
ing  correspondence  with  the  leading  scientific  men  of 
that  day. 

In  1747,  besides  his  important  pamphlet,  entitled 
"  Plain  Truth,"  relating,  as  heretofore  noticed,  to  the 
defenceless  condition,  not  only  of  Philadelphia,  but  of 
the  province  generally,  and  his  arduous,  patriotic,  and 
successful  labors  in  effecting  the  military  organization  to 
which  that  pamphlet  led  the  way,  he  not  only  wrote  his 
interesting  paper  explaining  the  origin  and  course  of  the 
northeast  storms  of  our  Atlantic  coast,  but,  as  early  as 
July  of  this  same  year,  in  his  correspondence  with  his 
scientific  friend,  Peter  Collinson,  of  the  Royal  Society  of 
London,  he  announced  to  the  world  for  the  first  time, 
and  on  the  authority  of  experiments  devised  and  con 
ducted  by  himself,  what  he  describes  as  "  the  wonderful 
effect  of  pointed  bodies,  both  in  drawing  off  and  throw 
ing  off  the  electrical  fire  ;"  and  in  the  same  communica 
tion  he  also  announced  the  important  discovery  of  the 
opposite  electrical  conditions  of  bodies,  indicated  by  the 
terms  plus  and  minus,  or  positive  and  negative,  on  the 
basis  of  which  he  gave,  in  the  succeeding  September, 
the  explanation  of  the  phenomena  of  the  Leyden  jar, 
or  as  he  usually  termed  it,  the  Lei/den  bottle,  which  had 
previously  baffled  and  perplexed  the  philosophers  of 
Europe. 


ELECTRICAL    PERFORMANCES.  261 

In  the  following  year,  (1748),  he  further  analyzed  the 
electrical  bottle  by  a  long  series  of  ingenious  exper 
iments  upon  it,  showing  its  true  electrical  condition  un 
der  all  circumstances,  in  relation  to  the  substance  or  in 
ternal  parts  of  the  glass  itself,  its  surfaces,  its  coatings, 
and  its  whole  action.  Among  other  applications,  more 
over,  of  electrical  agency  he  applied  it  as  a  motive  pow 
er,  for  the  production  of  useful  practical  results,  to  a 
revolving  apparatus  of  his  own  contrivance,  which  he 
called  the  electric  jack,  after  the  machine  once  in  gen 
eral  use  for  roasting  meat.  In  the  communication  to  Mr. 
Collinson,  (written  apparently  late  in  the  spring,  though 
the  month  is  not  named,)  in  which  he  gives  the  details 
of  these  investigations  and  results,  he  closes  with  the 
following  notice  of  a  very  remarkable  pleasure  party  — 
a  sort  of  electrical  pic-nic  —  arranged  and  enjoyed, 
doubtless,  with  rare  zest,  by  himself  and  some  of  his 
philosophical  friends. 

"  The  hot  weather  coming  on,"  says  he,  "  when  elec 
trical  experiments  are  not  so  agreeable,  it  is  proposed  to 
put  an  end  to  them  for  this  season,  somewhat  humorous 
ly,  in  a  party  of  pleasure  on  the  banks  of  the  Skuylkill. 
Spirits,  at  the  same  time,  are  to  be  fired  by  a  spark  sent 
from  side  to  side,  through  the  river,  without  any  other 
conductor  than  the  water  ;  an  experiment  which  we  some 
time  since  performed,  to  the  amazement  of  many.  A 
turkey  is  to  be  killed  for  our  dinner,  by  an  electric  shock, 
and  roasted  by  the  electrical  jack,  before  a  fire  kindled 
by  the  electrical  bottle ;  when  the  healths  of  all  the  fa 
mous  electricians  of  England,  Holland,  France,  and 
Germany,  are  to  be  drank  in  electrified  bumpers  under 
the  discharge  of  guns  from  an  electrical  battery"* 

*  The  electrijjed  bumper,  he  describes  as  a  small,  thin,  glass  tumbler, 
nearly  filled  with  wine,  and  electrified  like  the  bottle.  This,  when  brought 
to  the  lips,  gives  a  slight  shock,  if  the  beard  be  shaved  closely,  so  as  to 
present  no  points,  and  the  moist  breath  be  not  breathed  upon  the  liquor. 


262  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

In  1749,  moreover,  in  a  paper  on  "  thunder-gusts,"  he 
began  to  broach  his  theory  of  the  identity  of  electricity 
and  lightning,  (suggesting  in  the  same  paper  the  idea 
that  the  Northern  Lights  may  be  electrical  phenomena,) 
and  in  1750  he  propounded,  as  one  of  the  consequences 
and  proofs  of  that  identity,  the  efficacy  and  utility  of 
pointed  conductors,  now  commonly  called  lightning-rods, 
for  protection  against  lightning.  Though  he  did  not 
actually  make  his  renowned  experiment  with  the  kite, 
till  June,  1752,  yet  all  the  principles,  on  which  that  ex 
periment  proceeded,  had  been  evolved  in  the  three  pre 
ceding  years,  beginning,  as  already  stated,  in  1749.  In 
deed,  in  a  paper  detailing  experiments  and  observations 
made  in  1749,  but  not  communicated  to  Mr.  Collinson, 
till  the  next  season,  (for  correspondence  across  the  At 
lantic  was  then  a  matter  of  months,  not  of  weeks  and 
days,)  under  cover  of  a  note  dated  the  29th  of  July, 
1750,  Franklin  had  gone  so  far  as  to  describe  a  method, 
(placing  on  some  tower,  or  other  elevated  station,  a  long 
iron  rod,  with  its  foot  insulated  in  a  mass  of  resin,  and 
its  pointed  top  rising  singly  above  surrounding  objects 
into  the  air,)  by  which  the  truth  of  his  theory,  already 
expounded  by  him  on  the  evidence  of  a  long  train  of 
experiments  made  by  himself  and  previously  communi 
cated,  might  be  demonstrated  beyond  all  doubt  or  deni 
al  ;  and  it  was  in  fact,  by  pursuing  exactly  the  method 
thus  proposed,  that  the  first  European  attempt  to  ascer 
tain  the  great  truth  in  question,  was  made  and  was  suc 
cessful. 

The  communication  above  referred  to,  containing  the 
experiments  and  reasonings  out  of  which  the  proposed 
method  grew,  though  read  before  the  Royal  Society  in 
London,  was  deemed  by  the  more  forward  and  control 
ling  members  of  that  institution,  to  be  too  unimportant, 
not  to  say  frivolous  and  extravagant,  to  be  published 


ELECTRICITY    AND    LIGHTNING    IDENTICAL.  263 

among  their  transactions.  Indeed,  the  supposition  that 
the  fire,  snapping  and  sparkling  from  a  small  glass  bot 
tle,  and  ground  out  of  a  small  glass  cylinder  turned  by  a 
hand-crank,  could  possibly  be  identical  with  the  elemen 
tal  lightning,  was,  says  Mitchell,  a  member  of  the  soci 
ety,  in  a  letter  to  Franklin,  "  laughed  at  by  the  connois 
seurs."  Fothergill,  Collinson,  and  a  few  others,  however, 
thought  differently,  and  procured  the  publication  of  the 
papers  bearing  directly  on  the  question,  in  a  separate  pam 
phlet,  which  was  soon  translated  into  the  French  and 
other  languages  of  continental  Europe.  One  of  those 
pamphlets  being  read  by  Buffon,  Dalibard,  and  other 
philosophical  inquirers  in  Paris,  they  had  a  series  of 
Franklin's  experiments,  as  he  had  described  them,  per 
formed  by  M.  De  Lor,  one  of  their  number  ;  and  these 
made  so  strong  an  impression  upon  them,  that  they  de 
termined  forthwith  to  put  the  hypothesis  of  identity  to 
the  test,  precisely  and  avowedly  in  the  manner  suggested 
by  its  acknowledged  author.  Dalibard,  who  set  up  his 
rod,  forty  feet  in  length,  on  the  heights  of  Marly,  a  sub 
urb  of  Paris,  was  lucky  enough  to  obtain  from  the  clouds, 
the  earliest  answer  to  the  great  question  put  to  them. 
This  was  on  the  10th  of  May,  1752.  On  the  18th  of 
the  same  month,  the  same  answer  was  obtained  by  De 
Lor,  upon  the  roof  of  his  own  house  in  Paris,  with  a  rod 
which  lifted  its  sharp  point  to  the  height  of  ninety  feet 
above  its  base  ;  and  the  same  results  were  obtained  in 
speedy  succession,  by  similar  means,  in  various  other 
places  on  the  continent  of  Europe.  In  one  instance,  the 
experimenter,  (Professor  Richman,  who  had  early  ac 
quired  a  high  reputation  in  philosophy,)  while  making 
this  grand  and  bold  experiment  at  St.  Petersburgh,  in 
Russia,  through  some  Jack  of  care  in  managing  it,  was 
killed  by  an  unexpected  discharge  from  his  rod. 

Franklin  would  himself  have  put  his  plan,  as  above 


264  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

described,  in  execution  with  the  first  opportunity  after 
conceiving  it,  had  he  possessed  the  means  of  doing  so. 
It  was  while  waiting  for  some  such  means,  (which,  as  it 
would  seem,  from  some  expressions  relating  to  this  topic, 
he  had  reason  to  expect  would  soon  be  furnished  in  Phil 
adelphia,)  that  the  simple  yet  sublime  experiment  with 
the  kite  occurred  to  him  ;  and,  without  having  heard,  or, 
indeed,  having  had  time,  by  many  weeks,  to  hear  a  word 
of  what  had  been  done  in  Paris,  pursuant  to  his  previous 
suggestions,  he  availed  himself  of  the  first  opportunity 
presented  by  a  mass  of  gathering  thunder-clouds,  in 
June,  1752,  to  send  up  his  kite,  with  its  sharp-pointed  wire 
projecting  some  twelve  inches  or  more  beyond  its  ver 
tex,  which  brought  the  lightning  down  to  him  in  triumph, 
demonstrated  the  great  truth  he  had  already  drawn  from 
his  inductions,  and  shed  unfading  splendor  on  his  name. 
Besides  all  this,  Franklin,  as  he  wrote  to  the  celebrated 
Cadwallader  Golden,  with  whom  he  was  in  constant  cor 
respondence,  had,  in  1751,  by  uniting  several  large  elec 
trified  jars  in  one  battery,  given  such  intensity  to  the 
electric  discharge  as  to  melt  steel  needles,  reverse  the 
poles  of  the  magnetic  needle,  give  magnetism  and  polar 
ity  to  needles  previously  destitute  of  them,  and  ignite 
dry  gunpowder.  He  had  also  asserted  the  unlimited 
capability  of  accumulation  of  the  electric  force,  affirming 
that,  by  enlarging  the  battery  of  jars  as  above  indicated, 
the  greatest  effects  of  lightning  yet  known,  might  be 
surpassed  ;  and  in  another  letter  to  Mr.  Golden,  dated 
the  23d  of  April,  1752,  he  had  questioned  the  correct 
ness  of  the  received  opinion,  that  the  light  of  the  sun 
proceeds  from  it  in  successive  particles  actually  traversing 
space  in  the  form  of  rays  ;  and  propounded,  in  opposition 
to  that  opinion,  the  query  whether  all  the  phenomena  of 
light  might  not  be  better  solved  "  by  supposing  univer 
sal  space  filled  with  a  subtile  elastic  fluid,  which,  when 


Franklin  drawing  down  the  Lightning. 


PUBLIC    EMPLOYMENTS.  265 

at  rest,  is  not  visible,  but  whose  vibrations  affect  that  fine 
sense  in  the  eye,  as  those  of  air  do  the  grosser  organs 
of  the  ear  ?" 

Such  were  the  pursuits,  with  their  strong  attractions, 
for  the  sake  of  which,  Franklin  had  relieved  himself 
from  the  engrossment  of  his  private  affairs,  and  as  he 
hoped,  from  the  drudgery  of  public  business  ;  and, 
having  enlarged  his  means  of  philosophical  investiga 
tion  with  additional  apparatus,  he  was  bent  on  giving 
himself  thereto,  with  renewed  ardor  and  a  more  exclu 
sive  devotion  than  ever. 

But  the  interest  which  he  had  manifested  in  the  de 
fence  of  the  colony,  the  leading  part  he  had  taken  in  the 
measures  adopted  for  that  end,  and  the  public  spirit  and 
ability  he  had  displayed,  served  more  and  more  to  fix 
upon  him  the  public  attention  and  win  the  general  con 
fidence  ;  and  now  that  he  was  regarded  as  a  man  of  lei 
sure,  the  demand  for  his  services  in  public  affairs  was 
continually  increasing.  The  governor  commissioned  him 
as  a  justice  of  the  peace ;  he  was  chosen  a  member  of 
the  common  council  of  the  city;  and,  shortly  after,  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  provincial  assembly.  This  last- 
named  position  seems  to  have  pleased  him  most,  not 
only  as  being  most  congenial  to  his  qualifications,  but  as 
presenting  a  broader  field  of  action  and  of  usefulness ; 
though  all  of  them,  as  being  unsolicited  testimonies  of 
public  respect  and  confidence,  could  not  be  otherwise 
than  gratifying.  The  conscientiousness,  which  strongly 
marked  his  character,  and  regulated  his  conduct  in  his 
public  employments  as  well  as  in  his  private  transactions, 
was  well  exemplified  by  his  course  in  reference  to  his 
office  as  a  magistrate.  After  taking  his  seat  in  court, 
a  few  times,  for  the  hearing  of  causes,  perceiving  that 
his  knowledge  of  law  was  not  sufficiently  extended  and 
exact  to  enable  him  to  discharge  his  duties  as  a  judge, 
23 


266  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

in  that  thorough  manner  which  alone  could  satisfy  his 
ideas  of  their  importance,  he  gradually  withdrew  from 
them,  and  devoted  himself  more  engrossingly  to  the 
business  of  the  assembly  and  the  general  affairs  of  the 
province. 

In  1749,  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  commissioners, 
on  the  part  of  the  province,  to  make  a  treaty  with  the 
Indians.  The  meeting  for  this  purpose  was  held  at  Car 
lisle.  The  number  of  Indians  in  attendance  being  large, 
to  avoid  disturbance  and  bring  the  negotiation  to  a  speedy 
and  amicable  conclusion,  no  spirituous  liquor  was  per 
mitted  to  be  distributed  till  the  treaty  was  finished.  Im 
mediately  after,  however,  the  red-men  held  a  powow, 
and  all  of  them  got  drunk.  When  the  powow  was  over, 
though  the  principal  chiefs  showed  some  tokens  of 
shame,  yet  they  defended  themselves  on  the  ground  that 
the  Great  Spirit  made  everything  for  a  particular  use, 
and  to  that  use  it  should  be  put;  that  when  he  made 
rum  he  said,  "  Let  this  be  for  the  Indians  to  get  drunk 
with,"  and  that  it  must  be  so.  The  defence  was  as  valid, 
perhaps,  as  any  yet  urged  by  the  white  man  to  this  point. 

About  this  time,  Dr.  Thomas  Bond,  one  of  Franklin's 
intimate  friends,  proposed  the  establishment  of  a  hospital 
for  the  sick  poor,  whether  inhabitant3  of  the  province  or 
strangers  ;  and  made  an  earnest  effort  to  procure  sub 
scriptions  for  the  purpose.  Meeting  with  little  success, 
however,  Dr.  Bond  came  to  Franklin  to  engage  him  in 
the  undertaking,  telling  him  that  he  was  the  only  man 
who  could  insure  the  accomplishment  of  the  project, 
inasmuch  as  almost  every  person  to  whom  he  applied, 
inquired  whether  Franklin  had  been  consulted,  and  what 
he  thought  of-the  plan.  Upon  learning  Dr.  Bond's 
views,  and  being  convinced  that  the  proposed  institution 
would  be  useful,  Franklin  became  a  subscriber,  and  co 
operated  zealously  in  promoting  it.  Before  making  any 


A    HOSPITAL    FOUNDED.  267 

personal  application  for  other  subscriptions,  however,  he 
resorted  to  his  usual  mode  of  preparing  the  way  for  such 
applications,  by  explaining  the  plan  to  the  public  in 
print ;  and  when  the  people  generally  had  thus  been  led 
to  an  intelligent  consideration  of  the  subject,  subscrip 
tions  were  more  freely  made. 

But  it  soon  became  evident  that  the  aid  of  the  as 
sembly  would  be  needed  ;  and  a  petition  for  such  aid 
was  circulated,  which  Franklin  took  charge  of.  The 
country  members  were  at  first  averse  to  the  petition, 
alleging  that  the  benefits  of  the  institution  would  accrue 
only  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  city,  and  that  the  funds, 
therefore,  should  be  wholly  supplied  by  them.  Frank 
lin,  however,  obtained  leave  to  introduce  a  bill,  so  drawn 
as  to  make  the  proposed  grant  conditional ;  that  is  to 
say,  if  the  sum  of  two  thousand  pounds  should  be  raised 
by  private  subscription,  then  a  like  sum  should  be  drawn 
from  the  provincial  treasury.  This  condition  had  a  two 
fold  operation  in  favor  of  the  proposed  institution ;  for 
while  it  secured  the  passage  of  the  bill  by  obtaining  the 
votes  of  those,  who  did  not  believe  the  condition  would 
be  met,  but,  who  wished  to  appear  liberal,  it  served  also 
as  a  powerful  motive  for  private  subscriptions,  which  soon 
rose  to  the  required  amount  and  gave  effect  to  the  grant. 
The  hospital  thus  established  was  duly  organized  in 
1751,  and  has  proved  a  valuable  institution. 

An  anecdote  indicating  something  of  Franklin's  pru 
dence  in  husbanding  his  influence,  as  well  as  the  extent 
of  it,  may  be  related  in  this  connection.  The  Rev.  Gil 
bert  Tennent  applied  to  him  for  his  aid  in  procuring 
funds  by  subscription  to  build  a  meeting-house  for  a  new 
congregation,  formed  chiefly  of  the  followers  of  White- 
field.  Franklin,  deeming  it  unwise  and  improper  to  be 
continually  pressing  people  for  money,  even  for  laudable 
objects,  declined ;  as  he  did,  also,  the  further  request  to 


268  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

furnish  a  list  of  those  persons  whom  he  had  found  ready 
and  liberal  givers,  and  whom,  for  that  very  reason,  he 
would  not  single  out  for  annoyance.  Mr.  Tennent  then 
asked  his  advice  as  to  the  course  he  should  pursue. 
With  this  request  Franklin  promptly  complied,  by  tel 
ling  him  to  apply  first  to  such  persons  as  he  knew  would 
give  something;  next  to  such  as  he  considered  doubtful, 
showing  them  the  list  of  those  who  had  already  sub 
scribed  ;  and,  finally,  to  those  of  whom  he  now  expected 
nothing,  for  he  might  be  mistaken  in  respect  to  some  of 
them.  Mr.  Tennent  "laughed,"  took  the  advice  thank 
fully,  and  obtained  money  enough  to  build  a  large  and 
handsome  edifice. 

About  this  period  Franklin  began  to  agitate  the  sub 
ject  of  paving  the  streets  of  Philadelphia.  He  commenced 
in  his  usual  manner,  by  explaining  in  his  paper  the  ad 
vantages  of  the  plan.  The  first  specimen  of  the  con 
venience  and  utility  of  a  pavement  was  presented  at  the 
market-place,  near  which  he  lived.  This  seems  to  have 
been  effected  by  the  enterprise  of  individuals;  and  Frank 
lin  himself  went  through  the  immediate  neighborhood 
and  obtained  a  subscription  at  every  house,  for  keeping 
the  pavement  in  good  condition  by  having  it  regularly 
swept.  The  result  of  this  experiment  was  so  satisfac 
tory  that  the  desire  gradually  spread  throughout  the  city 
to  have  the  streets  fully  paved.  This  feeling  became,  in 
the  course  of  three  or  four  years  from  the  time  now  re 
ferred  to,  so  rife  and  urgent,  that  Franklin,  shortly  before 
he  was  sent  to  England,  in  1757,  as  the  diplomatic  agent 
of  the  province,  introduced  into  the  assembly  a  bill  for 
paving  the  city  by  a  general  tax.  He  left  for  England 
before  the  bill  could  be  passed  ;  and  when  he  was  gone 
the  bill  was  somewhat  changed,  though  not  in  his  judg 
ment  improved,  as  to  the  mode  of  assessing  the  tax. 
Another  provision,  however,  which  he  justly  considered 


PAVING    AND    LIGHTING    THE    CITY.  269 

a  very  valuable  one,  was  introduced  into  the  same  bill  — 
a  provision  for  lighting  the  streets.  This  idea,  though 
generally  attributed  to  Franklin,  originated  in  fact  with 
a  private  citizen  by  the  name  of  John  Clifford,  who  had 
for  some  time  had  a  lamp  in  front  of  his  own  house ; 
and  it  suggested  so  forcibly  the  increased  convenience 
and  security,  which  would  necessarily  result  from  the 
general  lighting  of  the  streets,  that  the  provision  for  that 
purpose  was  introduced  and  adopted  as  above  stated. 

The  thorough  lighting  of  the  streets  of  a  city  is  prob 
ably  the  most  efficient,  reliable,  and  truly  economical 
part  of  every  system  of  protective  police  ;  and  the  credit 
of  first  suggesting  so  useful  a  measure  might  well  be 
coveted  by  any  public-spirited  citizen  ;  and  the  sponta 
neous  transfer  of  such  credit,  therefore,  by  the  man  to 
whom,  without  any  agency  of  his  own,  it  had  been  erro- 
neously  assigned,  and  with  whom  it  was  resting  without 
dispute,  to  the  person  to  whom  it  justly  belonged,  was 
unequivocal  evidence  of  honorable  feeling.  Mr.  Clif 
ford,  moreover,  had  been  long  dead,  when  Franklin 
made  the  explanation  in  question,  which  could,  therefore, 
have  been  prompted  only  by  that  innate  love  of  truth 
and  fair  dealing,  which  was,  indeed,  a  strongly-marked 
trait  of  his  character.  There  was  another  merit,  how 
ever,  connected  with  this  subject,  which  belongs  to 
Franklin  ;  and  that  was  the  improvement,  introduced  by 
him,  in  the  form  of  the  street  lamp.  The  one  received 
from  London,  and  in  use  there,  was  the  globe-lamp ;  but 
it  was  so  insufficiently  ventilated  that,  when  lighted,  the 
inner  surface  soon  became  thickly  coated  with  lamp 
black,  which  materially  diminished  radiation.  This  se 
rious  objection  was  avoided  by  substituting,  on  Frank 
lin's  recommendation,  a  square  lamp,  with  flat  panes  of 
glass,  with  a  freer  access  of  air  at  the  bottom,  and  a 
funnel-shaped  top  to  permit  the  easy  escape  of  smoke. 
23* 


270  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

This  lamp  not  only  gave  a  better  light,  but  a  broken 
pane  could  be  replaced  at  much  less  expense  than  the 
cost  of  a  new  glass  globe. 

While  on  these  topics,  in  regard  to  which,  the  course 
of  time  has  been  in  some  respects  anticipated  a  little,  we 
may  advert  to  some  further  suggestions,  relating  to  the 
structure  and  cleaning  of  streets,  made  by  Franklin,  after 
he  became,  as  provincial  agent,  a  resident  again  in  Lon 
don,  and  communicated  by  him  to  his  warm  friend  and 
admirer,  the  celebrated  Dr.  Fothergill.  Among  other 
things,  he  expresses  the  opinion  that,  fornarrow  streets, 
the  transverse  slope  should  be  made  from  the  sides  to 
the  centre,  so  as  to  have  but  one  kennel,  or  gutter ;  for 
the  reason  that,  in  sucli  streets,  the  water  they  collect 
from  the  rains  will  be  usually  sufficient  to  carry  away 
the  wash  of  the  surface,  if  there  be  only  one  kennel,  but 
not  enough,  if  divided,  to  cleanse  two  such  kennels ; 
while,  at  the  same  time,  the  sidewalks  and  their  passen 
gers  will  be  much  less  exposed  to  annoyance.  He  also 
suggested  the  use  of  tight-covered  carts  for  carrying 
away  the  mud  and  other  wet  filth ;  and  the  sweeping  of 
the  streets  when  dry,  as  well  as  when  wet,  (the  former 
of  which  practices  had  not  yet  been  adopted  in  London,) 
but  doing  it  early  in  the  morning,  before  the  opening 
of  shops  and  houses ;  for  all  which,  in  the  long  dry  days 
of  summer,  in  that  high  northern  latitude,  the  habits  of 
the  London  population  allowed  ample  time,  even  after 
the  morning  sun  was  up,  notwithstanding  their  com 
plaints  of  the  heavy  candle-tax. 

Franklin  closes  his  narration  of  these  matters  with  the 
remark,  that  some  may  deem  them  too  trivial  to  be  worth 
relating.  His  comment  on  this  view  of  such  things  is 
eminently  characteristic ;  and  the  lesson  of  practical 
wisdom  which  it  teaches,  will  be  appreciated  by  all  who 
have  formed  any  tolerably  adequate  estimate  of  the  value 


IMPORTANCE    OP    SMALL    THINGS — POSTOFFICE.       271 

of  time,  or  of  the  inevitable  results  of  that  perpetual  flow 
of  minute  occurrences,  small  wants,  momentary  gratifi 
cations,  and  petty  disappointments,  by  which  the  actual 
discipline  of  character  is  effected,  and  ordinary  life  influ 
enced  for  good  or  for  evil.  "  Human  felicity,"  says 
Franklin,  "  is  produced  not  so  much  by  great  pieces  of 
good  fortune  that  seldom  happen,  as  by  little  advantages 
that  occur  every  day.  Thus,  if  you  teach  a  poor  young 
man  to  shave  himself  and  keep  his  razor  in  order,  you 
may  contribute  more  to  the  happiness  of  his  life  than  by 
giving  him  a  thousand  guineas.  This  sum  may  be  soon 
spent,  leaving  only  the  regret  of  having  foolishly  con 
sumed  it;  but  in  the  other  case,  he  escapes  the  frequent 
vexation  of  waiting  for  barbers,  and  of  their  sometimes 
dirty  fingers,  offensive  breaths,  and  dull  razors ;  he 
shaves  when  most  convenient  to  him,  and  enjoys  the 
daily  pleasure  of  its  being  done  with  a  good  instru 
ment." 

Prior  to  1753,  Franklin  had  been  employed  to  exam 
ine  into  the  affairs  of  a  number  of  the  more  important 
colonial  postoffices,  bring  their  occupants  to  an  adjust 
ment  of  their  accounts,  and  regulate  their  management. 
This  employment  he  had  received  from  the  postmaster- 
general  of  the  colonies  ;  and  upon  the  death  of  that  offi 
cer,  in  the  year  just  mentioned,  his  functions  were  con 
ferred  upon  Franklin  and  Colonel  William  Hunter,  of 
Virginia,  by  a  joint  commission  from  the  English  post 
master-general.  The  two  American  deputies  were  to 
have  six  hundred  pounds  a  year  between  them,  provided 
they  could  raise  that  sum  from  the  net  proceeds  of  their 
office.  The  colonial  postoffice  receipts  had  never  been 
sufficient  to  pay  a  shilling  of  revenue  into  the  English 
treasury  ;  and  to  render  them  productive  enough  to  yield 
the  compensation  mentioned,  various  reforms  were  neces 
sary,  and  Franklin  immediately  set  about  introducing 


272  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

them.  To  do  this,  however,  demanded,  in  the  outset, 
from  the  new  commissioners,  disbursements  so  consider 
able  that  in  the  first  four  years  the  office  became  indebted 
to  them  to  the  amount  of  nine  hundred  pounds.  But  as 
soon  as  the  new  arrangements  had  been  in  operation 
long  enough  to  produce  their  proper  results,  the  receipts 
began  to  increase  ;  and  in  a  few  years  they  became  suffi 
cient,  not  only  to  pay  the  stipulated  salary,  but  to  yield 
the  government  a  revenue,  which  continued  until  Frank 
lin,  by  his  exertions  in  the  cause  of  the  colonies,  gave 
such  offence  to  the  British  government  that  the  post- 
office  was  taken  from  him,  and  not  a  penny  of  revenue 
was  received  from  it  afterward.  About  the  beginning 
of  autumn,  in  the  same  year,  1753,  being  called  to  Bos 
ton  upon  postoffice  business,  Harvard  college  conferred 
on  him  the  degree  of  master  of  arts,  which  he  had  al 
ready  received  from  Yale.  These  honors  were  bestowed 
chiefly  for  his  eminence  in  natural  philosophy,  and  espe 
cially  his  discoveries  in  electricity. 

In  1754,  the  tokens  of  another  war  with  France  began 
to  be  visible ;  and  as  the  colonies  would  not  only  be  in 
volved  in  it,  as  a  matter  of  course,  but  were  likely  to 
become  one  of  its  principal  theatres,  the  British  govern 
ment  directed  a  convention  of  colonial  deputies  to  be 
held  at  Albany,  for  the  purpose  of  meeting  the  chiefs  of 
the  Indian  tribes  known  as  the  Six  Nations,  to  concert 
measures  for  the  common  defence,  and  to  secure,  if  not 
the  active  aid  of  the  tribes,  at  least  their  friendship  and 
neutrality.  The  order  for  this  convention  issued  from 
the  English  board  of  trade ;  and  Governor  Hamilton,  on 
communicating  it  to  the  Pennsylvania  Assembly,  together 
with  a  recommendation  that  means  should  be  supplied 
for  making  suitable  presents  to  the  Indians,  nominated 
Franklin  and  the  speaker  of  the  Assembly,  Isaac  Nor- 
ris,  to  act  with  John  Penn  and  the  provincial  secretary, 


CONVENTION    AT    ALBANY    IN    1754.  273 

Richard  Peters,  as  the  deputies  of  Pennsylvania  to  the 
proposed  convention.  The  Assembly  promptly  assented 
to  the  nominations,  and  voted  the  presents. 

The  meeting  took  place  at  Albany,  on  the  19th  of 
June,  1754,  and  consisted  of  delegates  from  New  Hamp 
shire,  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  New 
York,  Pennsylvania,  and  Maryland. 

Franklin  had  meditated  much  on  the  expediency  of 
forming  a  union  of  the  colonies  for  certain  general  pur 
poses  ;  and  on  his  way  to  Albany  he  sketched  a  plan  of 
such  union,  which,  while  in  the  city  of  New  York,  he 
submitted  to  some  of  the  leading  men  there,  whose  ap 
probation  of  its  general  scope  and  propositions  was  so 
marked,  that  he  laid  it  before  the  convention. 

Though  none  of  the  delegates,  except  those  of  Massa 
chusetts,  had  been  instructed  to  undertake  anything  more 
than  to  secure  the  friendship  of  the  Six  Nations,  and  pro 
vide  for  resisting  the  inroads  of  the  French  and  such 
tribes  as  might  join  them,  yet  the  advantages  of  a  closer 
connection  between  the  colonies  had  been  more  or  less 
considered  in  various  quarters  ;  and  the  delegates  of 
Massachusetts  had  been  expressly  empowered  to  enter 
into  a  closer  confederacy  for  general  defence  and  for 
promoting  the  common  interests  of  the  colonies,  in  both 
peace  and  war.  This  important  question  being  brought 
before  the  convention,  that  body,  on  the  24th  of  June, 
after  voting  unanimously  that  a  union  of  the  colonies  was 
"necessary  for  their  security  and  defence,"  appointed  a 
committee  to  consider  and  report  to  the  convention  a 
plan  for  such  union. 

This  committee  consisted  of  Thomas  Hutchinson,  of 
Massachusetts  ;  Theodore  Atkinson,  of  New  Hampshire ; 
William  Pitkin,  of  Connecticut ;  Stephen  Hopkins,  of 
Rhode  Island  ;  William  Smith,  of  New  York  ;  Benjamin 
Franklin,  of  Pennsylvania;  and  Benjamin  Tasker,  of 


274  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

Maryland.  After  deliberating  on  several  schemes  of 
union  presented,  the  committee  agreed  upon  Franklin's, 
and  on  the  28th  of  June  reported  it  to  the  convention, 
where,  after  being  debated  for  twelve  successive  days,  it 
was  adopted  without  opposition  on  the  llth  of  July,  and 
on  the  same  day  the  convention  broke  up. 

The  plan  thus  approved  provided  for  the  appointment, 
by  the  king,  of  a  president-general ;  and  for  the  election, 
by  the  respective  colonial  Assemblies,  of  a  fairly-appor 
tioned  legislative  body,  to  be  called  the  grand  council,  to 
meet  statedly  once  a  year,  and  oftener  if  necessary,  but 
whose  enactments  were  to  be  subject  to  the  assent  of 
the  president-general.  When  thus  passed,  they  were 
then  to  be  submitted  for  final  approval  to  the  king  in 
council,  and  were  to  take  effect  as  soon  as  approved,  or, 
if  not  disapproved,  at  the  end  of  three  years. 

The  powers  of  the  government  thus  organized  inclu 
ded  the  making  of  all  treaties  with  the  Indians  for  the 
purchase  of  their  lands,  the  regulation  of  the  Indian  trade, 
and  making  war  and  peace  with  any  of  the  tribes  ;  the 
formation  of  new  settlements,  and  the  support,  defence, 
and  government  thereof,  until  the  king  should  form  them 
into  distinct  colonies  with  separate  charters  ;  and  the 
raising,  organization,  equipment,  and  pay,  of  all  military 
forces  in  the  colonies,  by  land  and  water,  for  the  common 
defence,  and  for  the  protection  of  the  coasting  and  fron 
tier  trade.  To  defray  the  expenses  of  this  general  gov 
ernment,  power  was  given  to  lay  and  collect  import  du 
ties  and  internal  taxes,  and  to  appoint  a  treasurer-gen 
eral,  as  well  as  a  special  treasurer  in  each  colony,  if 
deemed  expedient ;  the  moneys  thus  raised  to  be  depos 
ited  in  the  respective  colonial  treasuries,  subject  only  to 
the  orders  of  the  general  government ;  and  no  payment 
to  be  made  on  account  of  that  government,  but  on  the 
joint  drafts  of  both  branches,  or  in  pursuance  of  special 


PLAN    OF    UNION.  275 

provision  in  any  act  of  appropriation.  All  commissioned 
military  officers,  for  service  on  land  or  water,  were  to 
be  nominated  by  the  president-general  arid  approved  by 
the  grand  council  ;  and  all  civil  officers  to  be  nominated 
by  the  latter  and  approved  by  the  former. 

The  existing  civil  and  military  establishments  of  the 
respective  colonies  were  to  remain  unaltered  ;  and  in  any 
sudden  exigency,  each  colony  might  forthwith  defend  it 
self  without  waiting  for  the  action  of  the  general  govern 
ment  ;  but  all  just  and  proper  charges  thus  incurred  were 
to  be  reimbursed  from  the  general  treasury.  Other  pro 
visions  were  made  for  carrying  the  above  powers  into 
effect ;  and  the  plan  was  to  be  submitted  to  the  several 
colonial  Assemblies  for  their  adoption,  and  then  to  be 
finally  ratified  by  an  act  of  parliament. 

Such  were  the  outlines  of  the  Plan  of  Union  of  1754, 
the  distinctive  features  of  which  were  derived  from  Frank 
lin  ;  and  they  bore  a  much  nearer  resemblance  to  the 
present  constitution  of  the  United  States,  than  the  Arti 
cles  of  Confederation  framed  by  the  Continental  Con 
gress  in  1777.  In  that  particular  most  essential  of  all  to 
its  own  efficiency,  namely,  its  direct  action  on  the  people 
in  laying  and  collecting  the  taxes  and  duties  necessary 
to  the  accomplishment  of  its  objects,  it  proceeded  on  the 
same  principle  as  the  present  constitution :  whereas,  the 
Confederation  of  1777  depended  on  thirteen  separate 
governments  for  the  quotas  of  revenue  necessary  to 
maintain  the  federal  authority,  which,  as  soon  as  the  ex 
ternal  pressure  of  war  was  removed,  was,  through  that 
dependence,  found  too  weak  to  sustain  itself.  Even  du 
ring  the  war,  the  chief  difficulties  arose  from  that  same 
source  ;  and  it  was  the  common  feeling  of  danger,  togeth 
er  with  the  patriotic  spirit  of  the  times,  far  more  than 
any  real  vigor  in  the  government,  that  enabled  the  assert- 
ors  of  American  independence  to  achieve  their  purposes. 


276 


LIFE    OF     BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 


But  the  people  of  the  colonies  in  1754  were  not  yet 
ripe  for  so  efficient  a  scheme  of  government,  or  so  close 
a  union.  They  needed  not  only  some  twenty  years'  more 
experience  of  the  evils  of  dependence  on  a  foreign  pow 
er,  to  prepare  them  fully  for  independence,  but,  in  ad 
dition  thereto,  the  still  further  experience  of  the  weak 
ness  and  perils  of  a  loose  and  inefficient  confederation  of 
states,  to  prepare  them  for  actual  union  and  a  real  gov 
ernment,  endowed  with  sufficient  powers  either  to  insure 
internal  order  and  tranquillity,  or  to  provide  for  their  com 
mon  defence  against  external  aggression,  or  enable  them 
to  develop,  in  peace  and  security,  the  resources  of  the 
country. 

The  result  was  that  the  plan,  upon  being  submitted  to 
the  several  colonial  Assemblies,  was  rejected,  chiefly  on 
the  alleged  grounds  that  it  conceded  too  much  to  the 
royal  prerogative,  and  would  endanger  the  liberties  of 
the  colonies  ;  while  the  British  board  of  trade,  the  chan 
nel  through  which  it  was  to  be  presented  to  the  king  in 
council,  were  so  jealous  of  its  republican  principles,  and 
of  the  powers  it  conferred  upon  the  colonies,  that  they 
did  not  even  lay  it  before  his  majesty.  Governor  Ham 
ilton,  of  Pennsylvania,  when  he  communicated  it  to  the 
Assembly  of  that  province,  did  indeed  express  himself 
in  favor  of  the  plan,  as  being  "  drawn  up  with  great  clear 
ness  and  strength  of  judgment."  The  Assembly,  how 
ever,  through  the  management  of  a  member,  whose  name 
is  not  given,  but  who  was  no  friend  to  Franklin,  very  un 
fairly  took  up  the  plan  in  the  absence  of  the  latter,  and 
rejected  it  without  examination. 

In  referring  to  this  matter  long  after,  Franklin  him 
self  remarks  that  the  opposite  reasons  for  rejecting  his 
plan  of  union  led  him  to  consider  it  as  having  hit  just 
about  the  true  medium  :  and  as  nobody  at  that  time  en 
tertained  any  design  of  separation,  but  simply  and  in 


VIEWS    OP    THE    BRITISH    CABINET.  277 

good  faith  sought  the  most  effectual  and  least  burden 
some  means  of  protecting  the  colonies  and  promoting 
their  best  interests,  in  connection  with  those  of  the  mother- 
country,  he  always  adhered  to  the  opinion  that  it  would 
have  proved  happy  for  both  parties  if  his  plan  had  been 
adopted ;  for  by  such  a  union,  the  colonies  being  enabled 
to  defend  themselves,  no  troops  from  England  would 
have  been  needed,  and  the  pretext  for  taxing  the  colonies 
by  act  of  parliament,  with  its  consequences  would  have 
been  avoided. 

In  the  autumn  of  1754,  Franklin  made  a  visit  of  sev 
eral  weeks  to  the  east.  During  his  stay  in  Boston  he 
had  various  private  conferences  with  Shirley,  then  gov 
ernor  of  Massachusetts,  relative  not  only  to  the  Albany 
plan  of  union,  but  to  another  one  contemplated  by  the 
British  cabinet,  though  not  yet  publicly  broached,  under 
which  the  colonial  governors,  attended  respectively  by 
one  or  more  members  of  their  executive  councils,  were 
to  meet,  from  time  to  time,  to  take  general  measures  for 
the  defence  of  the  colonies  and  the  protection  of  their 
trade  ;  with  authority  to  erect  such  forts  and  raise  such 
troops  as  they  should  judge  requisite,  the  expense  of 
which  was  to  be  paid,  in  the  first  instance,  from  the  im 
perial  treasury,  but  to  be  subsequently  reimbursed  by 
taxes  levied  upon  the  colonies  by  act  of  parliament.  In 
those  conferences,  the  feasibility  of  some  scheme  for  the 
representation  of  the  colonies  in  parliament  was  also  con 
sidered.  Franklin,  at  the  request  of  Governor  Shirley, 
put  his  views  on  these  subjects  in  writing,  in  the  form 
of  letters  to  the  governor.  In  those  letters,  the  conse 
quences  of  the  ministerial  projects  for  the  taxation  and 
government  of  the  colonies  are  pointed  out  with  pro 
phetic  sagacity  as  well  as  eminent  ability  ;  and  the  great 
principles  which  ultimately  led  to  American  indepen 
dence  are  distinctly  and  boldly  asserted. 
24 


278  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

At  the  period  now  spoken  of,  France,  it  will  be  rec 
ollected,  held  the  Canadas  and  Louisiana,  and  was  aim 
ing  to  connect  those  two  great  colonies  by  means  of  set 
tlements  and  military  posts  on  the  great  lakes  and  prin 
cipal  rivers  beyond  the  Allegany  mountains.  She  thus 
designed  to  acquire  the  control  of  the  western  Indian 
tribes,  monopolize  the  trade  with  them,  prevent  the  ex 
tension  of  British  settlements  in  that  direction,  and  com 
mand  the  entire  frontier,  as  well  as  the  two  great  routes 
of  the  future  internal  commerce  of  America  by  the  wa 
ters  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Mississippi.  The  suc 
cess  of  that  policy  would  have  been  most  injurious,  not 
to  say  fatal,  to  the  English  colonies  and  the  whole  circle 
of  British  interests  in  America. 

No  man  understood  all  this  better  than  Franklin,  or 
exhibited  a  wiser  foresight  in  pointing  out  the  means  of 
protecting  the  colonies  and  placing  their  interests,  and 
with  them  the  true  interests  of  the  mother-country  in 
America,  on  the  most  secure  and  permanent  basis.  As 
one  of  the  most  effectual  of  such  means,  he  drew  up  a 
plan  for  the  settlement  of  two  new  colonies  west  of  the 
Alleganies,  to  occupy  the  extensive  and  fertile  regions 
on  both  sides  of  the  Ohio,  and  between  that  river,  the 
great  lakes,  and  the  Mississippi.  Franklin's  views  on 
this  subject,  though  the  paper  containing  them  is  not 
dated,  must  have  been  put  into  the  form  now  mentioned 
not  long  after  the  separation  of  the  Albany  convention, 
and,  as  it  is  supposed,  at  the  request  of  Thomas  Pow- 
nall,  better  known  at  a  later  day  as  Governor  Pownall, 
who  was  in  Albany  during  the  sitting  of  the  convention, 
and  who  in  1757  succeeded  Shirley  as  governor  of  Mas 
sachusetts.  In  1756,  Pownall,  having  returned  to  Eng 
land,  prepared  a  memorial  on  the  same  subject,  which, 
together  with  the  plan  drawn  up  by  Franklin  and  sus 
tained  by  the  weightiest  reasons,  he  presented  to  a  mem- 


PLAN    FOR    NEW    COLONIES.  279 

ber  of  the  royal  family,  to  be  submitted  to  his  majesty  in 
council.  The  war  with  France,  commonly  referred  to 
in  this  country,  since  the  Revolution,  as  "  the  old  French 
war,"  had,  however,  commenced  the  year  before,  and  it 
was  then  no  time  to  begin  the  foundation  of  new  settle 
ments  in  one  of  the  most  exposed  regions  of  America ; 
but  if,  by  the  conquest  of  the  Canadas,  as  the  richest 
fruit  of  that  war,  some  of  the  reasons  for  the  proposed 
new  colonies  were  rendered  less  urgent,  yet  others  re 
mained  in  full  force,  and  were  quite  sufficient  to  com 
mend  the  scheme  to  early  adoption  on  the  return  of 
peace.  The  scheme  did,  indeed,  ultimately  receive  the 
sanction  of  the  British  cabinet ;  but  it  was  at  so  late  a 
period,  that  the  disputes  between  the  colonies  and  the 
mother-country,  then  deeply  agitating  the  public  mind 
on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  hindered  any  attempt  to 
execute  a  project  which  was  finally  rendered  alike  need 
less  and  impossible  by  the  result  of  our  revolutionary 
war.  The  broad  territories  proposed  thus  to  be  occu 
pied  and  brought  under  British  jurisdiction,  have  since 
furnished  room  for  seven  free,  independent,  and  flourish 
ing  states  of  this  Union  ;  and  their  history  has  more  than 
justified  Franklin's  high  estimate  of  the  value  of  that 
whole  region,  and  of  the  importance,  even  at  that  early 
day,  of  bringing  it  under  the  actual  occupation  of  British 
settlers,  and  establishing  among  the  native  tribes  the  as 
cendency  of  British  influence. 

During  Franklin's  absence  on  his  visit  to  Boston,  as 
already  mentioned,  in  the  latter  part  of  1754,  Pennsyl 
vania  received  a  new  governor,  Robert  Hunter  Morris, 
in  place  of  James  Hamilton,  who,  wearied  by  perpetual 
controversy  with  the  Assembly,  had  resigned  his  office. 
Franklin,  on  his  way  eastward,  had  met  Mr.  Morris  in 
New  York,  where  he  had  just  arrived  from  England  with 
his  commission.  Having  been  previously  well  acquaint- 


280  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

ed  with  each  other,  Morris,  in  the  course  of  conversa 
tion,  asked  if  he  was  to  expect  as  quarrelsome  and  un 
comfortable  an  administration  as  Hamilton's  had  been. 
"  No,"  said  Franklin,  "  you  may  have  a  very  comfortable 
one,  if  you  will  only  take  care  not  to  enter  into  any  dis 
pute  with  the  Assembly."  Morris,  with  the  good  humor 
that  belonged  to  his  character,  replied  that  he  loved  dis 
puting,  but  that,  to  show  his  regard  for  Franklin's  moni 
tion,  he  would  avoid  controversy  if  possible. 

When  Franklin  returned,  however,  and  again  took  his 
seat  in  the  Assembly,  he  found  that  body  and  the  gover 
nor  warmly  engaged  in  controversy ;  and  so  it  continued 
throughout  the  administration.  Franklin  held  so  promi 
nent  a  position  in  the  house  as  well  as  in  the  community 
at  large,  that  he  was  not  only  on  every  committee  ap 
pointed  to  answer  the  speeches  and  messages  of  the  gov 
ernor,  but  was  uniformly  designated  by  the  committees 
to  draft  the  answers  on  the  part  of  the  Assembly.  "  Our 
answers,  as  well  as  his  speeches,"  says  Franklin,  "  were 
often  tart,  and  sometimes  indecently  abusive  ;  and  as  he 
knew  I  wrote  for  the  Assembly,  one  might  have  im 
agined  that  when  we  met,  we  could  hardly  avoid  cutting 
throats.  But  he  was  so  good-natured  a  man,  that  no 
personal  difference  between  him  and  me  was  occasioned 
by  the  contest,  and  we  often  dined  together." 

Pennsylvania,  it  should  be  remembered,  was  what  was 
called  a  proprietary  province,  William  Penn  being  not 
only  the  founder  and  original  Proprietary,  but  the  real 
governor,  with  power  to  appoint  a  deputy  to  reside  in 
the  province  and  exercise  the  functions,  pursuant  to  the 
instructions,  of  his  principal.  Upon  the  death  of  Wil 
liam,  his  sons  John,  Thomas,  and  Richard,  became  as 
well  the  successors  to  his  political  authority  as  the  heirs 
of  his  private  estates  in  the  province  ;  John,  as  the  eld 
est  of  the  three,  receiving,  under  the  will  of  their  fa- 


PROPRIETARY    INSTRUCTIONS.  281 

ther,  two  shares  of  the  four  into  which  those  estates  were 
divided,  and  Thomas  and  Richard  one  each.  Before  the 
time  reached  in  our  narrative,  however,  John  had  died, 
leaving  his  estates  to  Thomas,  who  thus  became  pos 
sessed  of  three  of  the  shares  originally  set  out  by  his 
father,  while  Richard  had  but  one.  Thomas,  moreover, 
being  a  more  capable  and  efficient  man  than  Richard, 
and  having  so  much  larger  pecuniary  interests  in  the 
province,  the  proprietary  authority  and  influence  fell 
chiefly  into  his  hands.  The  contests  between  the  pro 
vincial  Assembly  and  the  deputy-governors,  (commonly 
styled  governors,  inasmuch  as  the  principals  resided  for 
the  most  part  in  London,)  were  almost  always  traceable 
directly  to  the  instructions  referred  to,  and  especially  in 
relation  to  taxes  ;  for  when  money  was  needed  even  for 
the  defence  of  the  province,  or  any  other  general  pur 
poses,  in  which  the  Proprietaries,  by  reason  of  their 
great  possessions,  were  far  more  deeply  interested  than 
anybody  else  in  the  security  and  growth  of  the  popula 
tion,  they  were  unjust  and  mean  enough  to  require  their 
governors,  under  heavy  penal  bonds,  executed  at  the 
time  of  receiving  their  appointments,  to  refuse  their  as 
sent  to  any  act  of  taxation,  unless  their  own  estates  were 
expressly  exempted. 

Such  instructions  and  requirements,  it  is  easy  to  see, 
must  have  excited  the  liveliest  and  most  just  indignation 
in  the  people  of  the  province  and  their  representatives, 
and  have  greatly  embarrassed  the  action  of  the  provin 
cial  government.  They  were,  however,  sometimes  eva 
ded,  as  in  the  following  instance,  which,  besides  its  in 
trinsic  interest,  serves  to  illustrate  the  character  and 
resources  of  Franklin's  mind  too  well  to  be  omitted. 

War  with  France,  though  not  formally  proclaimed, 
having  in  fact  commenced,  as  already  intimated,  the  Mas 
sachusetts  authorities,  early  in  1755,  projected  an  expe- 
24* 


282  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

dition  to  Crown  Point,  on  Lake  Champlain,  to  resist 
the  encroachments  of  the  French  in  that  quarter  ;  and 
they  despatched  agents  to  other  colonies  to  ask  for  aid. 
The  agent  sent  to  Pennsylvania  was  Josiah  Quincy,  of 
a  family  distinguished  for  its  patriotic  zeal,  and  one 
of  the  firmest,  ablest,  and  most  enlightened  men  of  that 
time.  Knowing  Franklin  not  only  as  a  Bostonian  by 
birth,  but  for  his  great  abilities  and  high  standing  in  both 
the  Assembly  and  the  community,  Mr.  Quincy  presented 
himself  first  to  him,  to  confer  with  him  on  the  subject 
of  his  mission  and  the  best  mode  of  bringing  it  forward. 
It  was  concluded  that  the  object  of  Mr.  Quincy's  visit 
should  be  presented  in  a  written  communication,  drawn 
up  in  the  manner  suggested  by  Franklin,  and  addressed 
directly  to  the  Assembly.  The  application  was  well  re 
ceived,  and  promptly  answered  by  a  vote  of  the  Assem 
bly  granting  an  aid  of  ten  thousand  pounds,  to  be  ex 
pended  in  purchasing  provisions  for  the  projected  expe 
dition. 

But  the  bill  making  this  grant  included  other  sums,  to 
the  amount  of  fifteen  thousand  pounds,  for  the  public  ser 
vice,  and  the  whole  was  to  be  raised  by  taxation.  When 
the  bill,  therefore,  came  before  the  governor,  he,  alleging 
as  usual  his  instructions,  refused  his  assent  to  the  bill, 
because  it  did  not  exempt  the  proprietary  estates  from 
its  operation  ;  and  Mr.  Quincy's  utmost  efforts  to  per 
suade  him  to  waive  his  objection  were  unavailing.  In 
this  dilemma,  Franklin  proposed  that  the  money  for  Mas 
sachusetts  should  be  raised  by  means  of  drafts  on  the 
trustees  of  the  loan-office,  (from  which  the  provincial 
paper-money  was  issued,)  which  drafts  the  Assembly 
had  authority  to  make,  independently  of  the  governor; 
but  as  there  was  scarcely  any  money  then  in  the  loan- 
office,  the  drafts  should  be  made  payable  at  the  end  of 
the  year,  with  five  per  cent,  interest,  and  secured  by  a 


AID    TO    MASSACHUSETTS.  283 

pledge  of  the  fund  derived  from  the  interest  accruing  on 
all  the  provincial  paper-money  then  in  circulation,  and 
from  the  excises  then  collected. 

These  revenues  were  well  known  to  be  more  than  suf 
ficient  to  meet  the  drafts  ;  the  plan  was  promptly  adopted 
by  the  Assembly,  and  the  drafts  when  issued  were  in 
such  high  credit  that  they  were  not  only  readily  taken  in 
direct  payment  for  provisions,  but  moneyed  men,  who 
had  cash  on  hand,  gladly  purchased  them  as  a  temporary 
investment,  for  the  sake  of  the  interest  upon  them,  know 
ing  that  they  could  readily  sell  them  again  whenever  they 
might  wish  to  employ  their  money  in  some  other  way. 
This  business  being  thus  successfully  accomplished,  Mr. 
Quincy  addressed  an  appropriate  letter  of  thanks  to  the 
Assembly,  and,  filled  with  warm  and  lasting  esteem  for 
Franklin,  returned  to  Boston,  highly  gratified  with  the 
result  of  his  mission. 


284  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 


CHAPTER    XXI 

FRANKLIN'S    SERVICES    TO     BRADDOCK —  GNADENHUTTEN 

AND  THE  FRONTIER INCIDENTS   AND   SENTIMENTS 

NEW  MILITARY  ORGANIZATION GOVERNOR   DENNY 

GOLD  MEDAL LORD  LOUDON FRANKLIN   SENT  TO 

ENGLAND  AS  AGENT  FOR  THE  PROVINCE. 

IN  the  spring  of  1755,  Franklin  signalized  his  per 
sonal  influence,  ability,  and  public  spirit,  in  another 
branch  of  the  public  service.  General  Braddock,  of 
unfortunate  memory,  had  arrived  early  that  spring,  at 
Alexandria,  Virginia,  with  two  regiments  of  regular 
troops  from  England,  and  had  advanced  to  Frederick- 
town,  Maryland,  where  he  encamped  to  wait  for  teams, 
which  he  had  sent  out  agents  to  collect,  in  the  back  set 
tlements  of  Maryland  and  Virginia,  for  the  purpose  of 
conveying  provisions  and  other  stores  for  the  troops  on 
their  march  to  the  frontier.  The  Pennsylvania  Assembly 
having  some  reason  to  suppose  that  Braddock  had  been 
led,  by  false  representations,  to  misconceive  their  dispo 
sition  to  promote  the  public  service,  were  anxious  to 
disabuse  his  mind  on  that  point,  and  for  this  purpose 
desired  Franklin  to  pay  him  a  visit.  He  was  to  go, 
however,  not  ostensibly  as  their  agent,  but  as  the  head 
of  the  colonial  postoffice  department,  in  order  to  concert 
arrangements  for  expediting  the  general's  official  corre 
spondence  with  the  public  authorities  of  the  adjacent 
colonies,  and  the  expenses  of  which  they  would  defray. 

Franklin,  who  promptly  undertook  the  mission,  found 


VISIT    TO    BRADDOCK.  285 

Braddock  at  Fredericktown,  full  of  impatience  for  the 
arrival  of  the  much-needed  teams ;  and  remaining  with 
him  several  days,  in  constant  intercourse,  was  entirely 
successful  in  correcting  his  erroneous  impressions  re 
specting  the  Assembly,  by  showing  him  how  they  had 
acted,  and  what  they  were  ready  to  do,  in  aid  of  his 
plans.  As  Franklin  was  on  the  point  of  leaving  him, 
Braddock's  agents  came  in,  reporting  that  they  had  been 
able  to  engage  but  twenty-five  teams,  and  that  some  even 
of  that  small  number  were  poorly  fitted  for  efficient  ser 
vice.  This  result  surprised  the  general  and  his  officers. 
They  pronounced  the  expedition  wholly  impracticable, 
as  at  least  six  times  the  number  reported  were  indispen 
sable  ;  and  they  denounced  the  ministry  for  their  igno 
rance  in  ordering  them  to  a  country  which  could  furnish 
no  means  of  conveyance.  Franklin  took  the  occasion  to 
express  his  regret  that  the  troops  had  not  been  directed 
to  Pennsylvania,  where  almost  every  farmer  kept  a  wag 
on.  To  this  remark  Braddock  eagerly  responded,  say 
ing  to  Franklin,  that  as  he  was  a  man  of  influence  there, 
he  could  probably  procure  the  necessary  teams,  and 
pressing  him  to  undertake  the  business.  Upon  inquiring 
on  what  terms  the  teams  were  to  be  raised,  Franklin,  at 
the  general's  request,  made  a  brief  statement  in  writing 
of  such  terms  as  he  deemed  reasonable  ;  and  these  being 
approved,  he  was  forthwith  furnished  with  the  requisite 
authority  and  instructions,  and  departed. 

On  reaching  Lancaster,  he  issued  advertisements,  da 
ted  the  25th  of  April,  1755,  stating  that  he  was  empow 
ered  to  make  contracts  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  wagons, 
with  four  horses  and  a  driver  to  each  ;  and  for  fifteen 
hundred  pack-horses  ;  naming  the  days  on  which  he 
would  be  at  Lancaster  and  York  to  execute  such  con 
tracts,  and  that  he  had  sent  his  son  into  Cumberland  for 
the  same  purpose.  To  give  additional  efficacy  to  his 


LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

advertisements,  he  published  an  address  to  the  people, 
appealing  to  their  public  spirit,  assuring  them  that  the 
proposed  service  would  be  neither  burdensome  nor  haz 
ardous  ;  that  the  contracts  would  put  in  circulation  more 
than  thirty  thousand  pounds,  to  the  great  advantage  of 
the  community ;  that  the  troops  sent  over  the  sea  for 
their  defence,  could  not  act  without  the  means  called  for, 
which,  if  not  furnished  by  voluntary  contract,  would  be 
taken  by  a  forced  levy,  to  the  great  annoyance  and  in 
jury  of  the  inhabitants ;  and  that  he  had  himself  no  pe 
cuniary  interest  in  the  matter,  as  he  should  receive  no 
compensation  for  his  services,  except  only  the  satisfac 
tion  arising  from  endeavors  to  be  useful. 

Franklin  received  from  Braddock  eight  hundred 
pounds,  to  pay  such  advances  as  might  become  indis 
pensable  to  secure  the  object ;  but  this  proving  too  little, 
he  not  only  paid  the  further  sum  of  two  hundred  pounds 
of  his  own  money,  but  found  himself  constrained  to  back 
the  contracts  by  giving  his  own  bonds  for  their  perform 
ance ;  the  farmers  alleging  that  they  knew  nothing  of 
Braddock,  or  how  far  they  could  rely  on  his  faith,  or 
means  of  payment.  This  was  not  all.  Learning,  while 
at  the  camp,  that  the  subaltern  officers  in  the  expedition 
were  generally  in  straitened  circumstances,  and  could 
not  afford  to  supply  themselves  with  many  of  the  stores 
that  might  become  necessary  for  their  comfort  on  their 
march  through  the  forests,  Franklin,  without  imparting 
his  design  to  any  one,  wrote  to  a  committee  of  the  Penn 
sylvania  assembly,  which  had  the  control  of  a  small  fund, 
stating  the  condition  of  the  officers  in  question,  and 
urging  the  committee  to  make  them  a  present  of  sup 
plies  of  the  kind  needed.  The  committee  complied  so 
promptly  that  these  stores  arrived  in  camp  at  the  same 
time  with  the  wagons  and  pack-horses,  and  were  received 
with  the  most  grateful  acknowledgments.  General 


CHARACTER  OF  BRADDOCK.  287 

Braddock  also  expressed  his  obligations  to  Franklin  for 
the  important  services  he  had  rendered,  cheerfully  re 
paid  his  private  disbursements,  and  earnestly  requested 
his  further  aid  in  forwarding  provisions  during  the  march 
of  his  troops  to  the  frontier.  Franklin  consented,  and 
continued  his  valuable  services,  until  the  expedition  ter 
minated  in  that  overwhelming  disaster  so  well  known  as 
"Braddock's  defeat." 

In  rendering  these  services,  Franklin  not  only  gave 
his  most  efficient  personal  efforts,  but  he  actually  paid 
out  upward  of  a  thousand  pounds  sterling  of  his  own 
money.  Fortunately  for  him,  his  accounts  for  these  ad 
vances  reached  Braddock  a  few  days  prior  to  the  disas 
ter  referred  to,  and  the  general  immediately  remitted  an 
order  on  the  paymaster  of  his  forces  for  the  round  thou 
sand,  leaving  the  balance  for  another  opportunity. 

Franklin,  who  saw  a  good  deal  of  Braddock,  speaks 
of  him  in  the  following  terms  :  "  This  general  was,  I 
think,  a  brave  man,  and  might  probably  have  made  a 
figure  as  a  good  officer  in  some  European  war.  But  he 
had  too  much  self-confidence,  too  high  an  opinion  of  the 
validity  of  regular  troops,  and  too  mean  a  one  of  both 
Americans  and  Indians.  George  Croghan,  an  Indian 
interpreter,  joined  him  on  his  march  with  one  hundred 
of  those  people,  who  might  have  been  of  great  use  to 
his  army,  as  guides  and  scouts,  if  he  had  treated  them 
kindly ;  but  he  slighted  and  neglected  them,  and  they 
gradually  left  him."  Talking  of  his  designs  one  day  to 
Franklin,  he  said,  "After  taking  Fort  Du  Quesne,  [where 
Pittsburg  now  stands,]  I  am  to  proceed  to  Niagara ;  and 
having  taken  that,  to  Frontenac,  if  the  season  will  allow 
time,  as  I  suppose  it  will ;  for  Du  Quesne  can  hardly  de 
tain  me  above  three  or  four  days  ;  and  then  I  see  noth 
ing  to  obstruct  my  march  to  Niagara."  To  this,  Frank 
lin  modestly  replied  :  "  To  be  sure,  sir,  if  you  arrive  well 


LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

before  Du  Quesne  with  these  fine  troops  so  well  provi 
ded  with  artillery,  the  post,  though  completely  fortified, 
and  with  a  very  strong  garrison,  can  probably  make  but 
a  short  resistance.  The  only  danger  I  apprehend  of  ob 
struction  to  your  march  is  from  the  ambuscades  of  the 
Indians,  who  are  dexterous  in  laying  and  executing  them  : 
and  the  slender  line,  nearly  four  miles  long,  which  your 
army  must  make,  may  expose  it  to  be  attacked  by  sur 
prise  on  its  flanks,  and  cut  like  a  thread  into  pieces,  which, 
from  their  distance,  can  not  support  each  other."  Brad- 
dock,  with  a  self-complacent  smile,  answered,  "  These  sav 
ages  may  indeed  be  formidable  to  your  raw  American  mi 
litia  ;  but  upon  the  king's  regular  and  disciplined  troops, 
sir,  it  is  impossible  they  should  make  any  impression." 

Such  blind  self-confidence  and  lamentable  ignorance 
of  the  true  nature  of  the  service  undertaken,  as  well  as 
of  the  character  of  the  enemy  to  be  encountered,  made 
all  further  suggestions  useless  :  they  could  be  cured  only 
by  one  of  those  crushing  disasters  which  are  their  legiti 
mate  consequence,  and  Franklin  said  no  more.  But  the 
very  first  intimation  this  unfortunate  commander  had  of 
the  presence  of  "  these  savages,"  was  the  opening  of 
their  deadly  fire  upon  him  from  their  ambuscade,  which 
ended  in  laying  upward  of  seven  hundred  of  his  men 
dead  on  the  field  of  battle,  and  in  his  being  himself  car 
ried  from  it  mortally  wounded  ;  while  all  that  was  done 
in  the  way  of  rallying  and  saving  even  the  wreck  of  the 
army,  was  accomplished  by  the  "  raw  American  militia," 
commanded  by  a  young  American  colonel  named  George 
Washington.  Captain  Orme,  one  of  Braddock's  aids,  se 
verely  wounded,  was  carried  from  the  field  with  him,  and 
continued  near  him  during  the  two  days  he  survived. 
That  officer  afterward  told  Franklin  that  the  general  re 
mained  silent  all  the  first  day  till  night,  when  he  only 
said,  "  Who  would  have  thought  it  1"  —  that  he  was  again 


BRITISH    REGULARS.  289 

silent  the  next  day  until  near  its  close,  when  he  said,  "  We 
shall  know  better  how  to  deal  with  them  another  time"  — 
and  in  a  few  minutes  after  expired. 

Upon  the  death  of  Braddock,  the  command  of  his 
forces  devolved  upon  Colonel  Dunbar,  who  had  been  left 
in  rear  with  a  strong  reserve  and  the  principal  part  of 
the  stores.  When  the  fugitives  from  the  battle  readied 
the  camp,  they  communicated  their  panic  so  effectually 
to  Dunbar  and  his  men,  that,  after  destroying  their  stores, 
to  have  more  horses  to  aid  their  flight,  the  whole  body, 
still  numbering  over  a  thousand,  with  their  commander 
at  their  head,  instead  of  moving  forward  to  meet  the  en 
emy,  consisting  of  some  four  or  five  hundred  Indians  and 
French,  and  to  retrieve  the  honor  of  "  the  king's  regular 
and  disciplined  troops,"  or  to  protect  the  frontier,  as  half 
their  number  of  "raw  American  militia"  would  have 
done,  if  as  well  equipped  and  provisioned,  used  their 
very  best  diligence  to  reach  the  settlements,  and  could 
not,  indeed,  be  persuaded  to  stop  till  they  were  safe  in 
Philadelphia. 

This  pusillanimous  and  precipitate  retreat,  though  dis 
graceful  to  Dunbar  and  his  forces,  and  though  it  in 
creased,  for  the  time,  the  danger  of  the  frontier  settle 
ments,  taught  the  colonists  a  most  useful  lesson,  inasmuch 
as  the  whole  affair,  in  the  words  of  Franklin,  "  gave  us 
Americans  the  first  suspicion  that  our  exalted  ideas  of 
the  prowess  of  British  regular  troops  had  not  been  well 
founded."  This  lesson,  moreover,  was  further  enforced 
by  the  conduct  of  the  same  troops  while  on  their  advance 
from  the  seaboard  into  the  interior,  during  which  they 
committed  great  outrages,  rifling  many  inhabitants  of 
their  property,  "  besides  insulting,  abusing,  and  confining 
the  people,"  says  Franklin,  "if  they  remonstrated  j"  and 
he  adds,  "  This  was  enough  to  put  us  out  of  conceit  of 
such  defenders,  if  we  had  really  wanted  any." 
25 


290  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

Upon  the  surprise  and  defeat  of  Braddock,  his  corre 
spondence  and  other  papers  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
French,  who,  for  the  purpose  of  showing  the  hostile  de 
signs  of  the  English  government  before  the  war  actually 
broke  out,  subsequently  published  some  of  them,  in 
which  Franklin  had  the  well-deserved  satisfaction  of 
seeing  that  the  unlucky  general  had  dealt  by  him  with 
honor  and  good  faith,  in  not  only  appreciating  justly  his 
services  to  the  expedition,  but  in  warmly  recommending 
him  to  the  notice  of  the  British  ministry  ;  though,  in  con 
sequence  of  the  unhappy  issue  of  Braddock's  enterprise, 
or  for  some  other  reason,  those  recommendations  were 
never  acted  on.  "As  to  rewards  from  Braddock  him 
self,"  says  Franklin,  "  I  asked  only  one,  which  was,  that 
he  would  give  orders  to  his  officers  not  to  enlist  any  more 
of  our  bought  servants,  and  that  he  would  discharge  such 
as  had  been  already  enlisted.  This  he  readily  granted, 
and  several  were  returned  to  their  masters  on  my  appli 
cation."  Dunbar,  however,  behaved  very  differently ; 
for  although  on  Franklin's  application  to  him,  in  Phila 
delphia,  to  discharge  the  servants  of  certain  farmers  of 
very  limited  means  in  Lancaster  county,  he  promised  to 
restore  them  to  their  masters  if  the  latter  would  present 
themselves  to  him  at  Trenton,  on  his  intended  march  to 
New  York,  yet  when  they  came  he  broke  his  promise. 

The  servants  here  meant,  it  should  be  observed,  were 
such  as  have  been  more  generally  known  as  "  redemp- 
tioners."  They  were  poor  emigrants  from  Europe,  who 
sold  their  personal  service  for  a  specific  term  of  years,  as 
their  only  means  of  paying  the  expenses  of  emigration 
and  securing  employment  afterward,  by  which  they  could 
redeem  or  buy  out  their  time  and  make  other  provision 
for  themselves.  They  stood  in  something  like  the  same 
relation  to  those  who  thus  purchased  their  service,  as  in 
dented  apprentices  to  their  masters ;  and  the  enlistment 


PERILS    OP    SURETYSHIP.  291 

of  them,  without  the  consent  of  their  masters,  was  a  griev 
ance  similar  to  that  of  enlisting  apprentices  in  the  same 
way. 

Not  only  did  Franklin  receive  no  compensation  for 
his  great  services  to  Braddock  and  his  troops,  but  those 
very  services  came  near  stripping  him  of  his  property. 
Having,  as  already  stated,  given  his  own  bonds  as  surety 
for  the  payment  of  all  loss  and  damage  of  the  horses  and 
wagons  furnished  to  transport  the  various  supplies  for 
those  troops,  when  the  loss  of  the  property  thus  furnished 
was  known,  the  owners  came  directly  upon  him  for  their 
pay ;  and  it  was  only  after  much  exertion  and  anxiety 
that  he  was  relieved  from  his  hazardous  position  by  Gen 
eral  Shirley,  then  commander-in-chief  of  the  king's  forces 
in  America,  on  whom  this  and  much  other  business  left 
unsettled  by  Braddock  devolved,  and  by  whose  orders 
these  claims,  amounting  to  nearly  twenty  thousand 
pounds,  were  examined  and  paid. 

Many  testimonies,  besides  those  already  adverted  to, 
are  extant,  showing  the  great  value  of  Franklin's  services 
to  Braddock  and  to  the  public,  and  the  high  esteem  in 
which  he  was  held,  not  only  by  General  Shirley  and  other 
high  British  functionaries  in  the  colonies,  but  also  by  the 
people  of  Pennsylvania  and  their  Assembly.  General 
Shirley,  who,  though  governor  of  Massachusetts,  was 
then  with  a  British  force  at  Oswego,  on  Lake  Ontario, 
in  his  letter  to  Franklin,  dated  the  17th  of  September, 
1755,  announcing  the  orders  he  had  issued  for  ascertain 
ing  and  paying  the  above-mentioned  claims,  assures  him 
that  if  he  had  earlier  understood  the  position  in  which 
he  was  placed,  he  should  sooner  have  enabled  him  to 
fulfil  the  contracts  in  question,  "  not  only  because  com 
mon  justice  demanded  it,  but  because  such  public-spirited 
services  deserve  the  highest  encouragement ;"  and,  al 
though  much  pressed  by  business  preparatory  to  his  de- 


292  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

parture  for  Niagara,  he  adds  that  he  "can  not  conclude 
without  assuring"  him  that  he  lias  "  the  highest  sense  of 
his  public  services  in  general."  A  letter  from  Israel 
Pemberton,  a  Quaker  of  Philadelphia,  to  Dr.  Fothergil], 
of  London,  after  mentioning  various  instances  of  Frank 
lin's  public  labors  at  the  same  period,  speaks  of  his  pres 
ence  in  the  back  settlements  of  Pennsylvania,  while  pro 
curing  teams  for  Braddock,  as  the  providential  means  of 
averting,  especially  from  the  Quakers,  the  outrages  which 
would  otherwise  have  ensued  from  a  forced  levy  of  wag 
ons,  horses,  and  men,  by  the  "  madman,"  Sir  John  St. 
Clair,  quartermaster-general  of  the  expedition  ;  and  adds : 
"  Franklin's  conduct  throughout  this  affair  was  very  pru 
dent,  and  indeed  he  was  the  only  person  who  was  alone 
equal  to  it.  The  Assembly,  sitting  immediately  after  his 
return  home,  unanimously  thanked  him  for  it.  The  sat 
isfaction  of  serving  a  people  whom  he  respects,  and  his 
quick  sense  of  the  injurious  treatment  they  meet  with, 
animated  Franklin  so  effectually,  that  I  am  in  hopes  it 
will  engage  him  to  act  steadily  and  zealously  in  our  de 
fence." 

Franklin's  exertions  to  promote  the  public  service  were 
as  efficient  in  the  Assembly  as  they  had  been  among  the 
people.  In  one  important  particular,  however,  it  was 
exceedingly  difficult  to  render  any  exertions  available. 
Every  bill  passed  by  the  Assembly  for  raising  money  by 
tax  for  the  common  defence  and  welfare  was  vetoed  by 
the  governor,  pursuant  to  his  instructions,  for  not  ex 
empting  the  estates  of  the  Proprietaries.  In  ordinary  and 
peaceful  times,  this  gross  injustice  attracted  but  little  at 
tention  out  of  Pennsylvania  ;  but  in  the  emergency  which 
followed  Braddock's  defeat,  the  exposed  condition  of  the 
colonists,  and  the  necessity  for  supplies,  drew  upon  the 
Proprietaries  the  indignation  of  many  in  England,  some 
of  whom  openly  insisted  that,  in  thus  obstructing  the  de- 


VOLUNTEER    MILITIA.  293 

fence  of  the  province,  by  refusing  to  bear  their  equal  and 
just  share  of  the  necessary  cost  of  that  defence,  the  Pro 
prietaries  forfeited  their  rights  under  the  charter.  This 
alarmed  them  to  such  a  degree,  that  they  sent  orders  to 
the  receiver  of  their  revenues  in  Pennsylvania  to  pay 
into  the  provincial  treasury  five  thousand  pounds  in  ad 
dition  to  such  sums  as  should  be  raised  by  the  Assembly 
for  public  purposes.  This  being  certified  to  that  body, 
it  was  agreed,  in  view  of  the  existing  public  exigency, 
to  regard  it  as  equivalent  to  so  much  money  levied  by  a 
general  tax  ;  and  an  act  was  forthwith  passed  for  raising 
sixty  thousand  pounds,  which,  as  it  exempted  the  Pro 
prietary  estates,  was  signed  by  the  governor. 

Franklin  having  taken  an  active  part  in  framing  and 
passing  this  act,  was  appointed  one  of  seven  commission 
ers  for  directing  the  expenditure  of  the  money.  While 
this  measure  was  pending,  he  prepared  another  bill,  which 
also  became  a  law,  for  organizing  a  body  of  militia  by 
voluntary  enlistment.  To  avert  the  opposition  of  the 
Quakers  to  the  latter  bill,  they  were  exempted  from  its 
operation;  while,  for  the  purpose  of  recommending  his 
plan  of  organizing  the  military  force  contemplated  by  it 
to  the  public  generally,  he  wrote  and  published  an  able 
tract,  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue,  in  which  he  stated  and 
answered,  with  marked  effect,  as  the  result  gave  him 
good  reason  to  believe,  all  the  objections  he  understood 
to  be  urged  against  it. 

While  the  organization  and  training  of  this  militia  were 
going  on,  Franklin  was  persuaded  by  Governor  Morris 
to  accept  a  commission,  with  ample  powers  to  raise,  or 
ganize,  and  station  a  military  force,  and  erect  forts,  for 
the  protection  of  the  northwestern  frontier  of  Pennsyl 
vania.  The  selection  of  his  subordinate  officers,  among 
whom  it  is  gratifying  to  find  that  the  intrepid  Wayne 
was  one  of  the  captains,  was  also  submitted  to  himself 
25* 


294  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

alone,  blank  commissions  for  them  being  furnished  by 
the  governor  ;  and  the  troops,  to  the  number  of  five  hun 
dred,  to  be  raised  for  this  purpose,  were  to  be  stationed 
at  his  discretion,  and  employed  in  such  manner  as  he 
should  direct.  The  men  were  soon  raised,  and  his  son 
William,  who  had  been  a  subaltern  officer  in  the  prece 
ding  war,  became  very  serviceable  to  him  as  his  aid-de 
camp. 

The  frontier  to  be  protected  was  the  extensive  district 
stretching  northeasterly  and  southwesterly  about  midway 
between  the  Delaware  and  Susquehannah  rivers,  now 
principally  included  in  the  counties  of  Pike,  Monroe, 
Northampton,  Schuylkill,  and  Lebanon,  and  drained 
chiefly  by  the  livers  Schuylkill  and  Lehigh,  with  their 
tributaries,  and  other  smaller  streams  flowing  to  the  Del 
aware.  Franklin  ordered  his  troops  to  rendezvous  at 
Bethlehem,  on  the  Lehigh,  the  chief  town  of  the  Mora 
vians,  whose  inhabitants,  though  a  pacific  people,  had 
taken  such  alarm  at  the  recent  burning  and  massacre  by 
the  Indians  at  Gnadenhutten,  one  of  their  back  settle 
ments,  that  they  had  surrounded  their  larger  buildings, 
which  were  of  stone,  with  stockades,  and  had  even  sup 
plied  the  chambers  of  their  -^tone  houses  with  piles  of 
stones  intended  for  the  women  to  cast  upon  the  Indians, 
if  assailed,  while  a  regular  watch  was  kept  up  by  patrols 
of  armed  brethren;  so  that  when  Franklin  arrived  there, 
he  found  the  place  well  prepared  for  defence. 

The  plan  for  the  general  protection  of  the  frontier  was 
to  erect  three  forts  or  strong  blockhouses  :  one  at  Gnad 
enhutten  ;  another  at  a  distance  of  fifteen  or  twenty  miles 
further  north  in  the  direction  of  a  post  called  Fort  Ham 
ilton,  previously  established  on  or  nearBroadhead's  creek, 
and  not  far  from  the  head- waters  of  the  Lackawaxen  ; 
and  the  other  at  about  the  same  distance  southwardly  in 
the  direction  of  Fort  Lebanon,  erected  at  an  earlier  dav 


THE    FRONTIER.  295 

near  the  forks  of  the  Schuylkill.  The  post  at  Gnaden- 
hutten  was  to  be  the  principal  one,  from  which  both  men 
and  supplies  were  to  be  sent,  as  occasion  might  require, 
to  the  smaller  garrisons  to  be  placed  in  the  other  forts, 
and  a  corps  of  mounted  rangers  was  to  be  kept  moving 
from  post  to  post  along  the  whole  line,  which  would  thus 
be  extended  from  a  point  on  the  Delaware  not  far  from 
the  confluence  of  the  Lackawaxen,  nearly  or  quite  to  the 
Susquehannah  in  the  neighborhood  of  Middletown. 

To  execute  his  plan,  Franklin  determined  to  proceed 
first  to  Gnadenhutten  with  the  main  body  of  his  force,  and 
having  established  that  post,  send  out  detachments  each 
way  to  construct  the  other  two,  which  he  could  easily  cover 
and  supply  from  the  principal  garrison.  He  left  Bethle 
hem  with  his  troops  on  Friday,  January  16,  1756,  accom 
panied  by  seven  wagons  with  provisions  and  other  stores. 
His  route  was  up  the  valley  of  the  Lehigh  ;  the  road  was 
rough,  the  weather  rainy,  the  march  toilsome  ;  and  the  gap 
of  the  mountain,  through  which  the  Lehigh  makes  its  way, 
exposed  the  party  to  great  danger  of  being  cut  off,  had  a 
resolute  and  active  enemy  taken  advantage  of  that  rough 
and  narrow  pass.  The  order  of  march,  however,  was 
arranged  with  such  good  judgment,  and  conducted  with 
such  vigilance,  that  although  two  Indian  scouts  came  so 
near  one  night  as  to  draw  the  fire  of  a  sentinel,  the  whole 
party  reached  Gnadenhutteu  on  the  third  day  about  noon, 
in  safety  and  good  spirits  ;  and  by  nightfall  they  were 
encamped  under  cover  of  a  good  breastwork  constructed 
during  the  afternoon. 

Thomas  Lloyd,  who  was  in  the  expedition,  and  kept 
a  diary,  describes  Gnadenhutten,  when  they  reached  it, 
as  presenting  "  one  continued  scene  of  horror  and  de 
struction.  Where  lately  flourished  a  happy  and  peace 
ful  village,  it  was  now  all  silent  and  desolate  :  the  houses 
burnt ;  the  inhabitants  butchered  in  the  most  shocking 


296  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

manner ;  their  mangled  bodies,  for  want  of  burial,  ex 
posed  to  birds  and  beasts  of  prey  ;  and  all  kinds  of  mis 
chief  perpetrated  that  wanton  cruelty  could  invent.  We 
have  omitted  nothing  that  can  contribute  to  the  happi 
ness  and  security  of  the  district ;  and  Mr.  Franklin  will 
at  least  deserve  a  statue  for  his  prudence,  justice,  human 
ity,  and  above  all  for  his  patience." 

As  soon  as  they  had  provided  for  the  security  of  their 
temporary  camp,  they  went  vigorously  to  work  to  con 
struct  their  fort ;  and  notwithstanding  it  rained  so  much 
of  the  time  as  materially  to  retard  their  labor,  yet  before 
the  end  of  a  week  it  was  completed.  The  fort  consisted 
of  a  strong  stockade  made  of  palisades  about  a  foot  in 
diameter,  set  three  feet  in  the  ground,  rising  twelve  feet 
above  it  and  sharpened  at  top,  with  a  platform  inside  all 
round  at  half  the  height,  and  two  ranges  of  loopholes  for 
musketry,  to  fire  through  from  the  ground  and  from  the 
platform  ;  and  comfortable  log-houses  within  for  the  shel 
ter  of  the  garrison.  The  area  enclosed  was  one  hundr.ed 
and  twenty-five  feet  in  length  by  fifty  in  width.  In  a 
letter  to  a  friend,  dated  at  Gnadenhutten,  the  25th  of  Jan 
uary,  1756,  Franklin,  after  describing  the  rapid  progress 
of  the  work,  says  :  "  This  day  we  hoisted  our  flag,  made 
a  general  discharge  of  our  muskets,  which  had  been  long 
loaded,  and  of  our  two  swivels,  and  named  the  place 
Fort  Allen,  in  honor  of  our  old  friend." 

Franklin  was  here  in  a  new  position  ;  but,  as  in  every 
other  scene  of  his  active  life,  it  served  only  to  place  in  a 
new  light  the  value  of  his  clear  practical  understanding 
with  other  admirable  qualities  of  his  well-proportioned 
nature,  and  to  furnish  new  matter  of  observation  to  his 
ever- vigil  ant  mind.  The  important  service  committed 
to  his  charge  was  promptly  and  discreetly  performed, 
and  in  his  narrative  of  it  he  takes  occasion  to  remark, 
among  other  things  useful  to  be  noted  by  all  who  have 


FORT  ALLEN  AND  THE  INDIANS.          297 

the  direction  of  any  considerable  bodies  of  men,  that  they 
were  most  contented  and  tractable  when  fully  employed  ; 
that  while  at  work  they  were  cheerful  and  efficient,  ex 
ecuting  their  duties  well ;  but  when  for  any  reason  their 
labors  were  suspended,  they  grew  captious  and  quarrel 
some,  grumbling  at  their  provisions,  and  in  continual  ill 
humor  ;  reminding  him,  as  he  says,  of  the  sea-captain, 
whose  rule  it  was  to  keep  his  crew  busy,  and  who,  when 
his  mate  told  him  one  day  that  there  was  nothing  for 
them  to  do,  gave  order  that  they  should  scour  the  an 
chor. 

As  soon  as  the  fort  was  finished  and  a  cover  thus  pro 
vided  in  case  of  need,  detachments  from  the  garrison 
oegan  to  reconnoitre  the  adjacent  country.  No  Indians 
were  seen,  but  marks  of  their  recent  neighborhood  were 
detected  in  various  places,  where  they  had  been  lurking, 
to  watch  what  was  going  forward  in  and  around  the  fort. 
One  of  their  expedients,  white  thus  engaged,  for  securing 
comfort,  without  betraying  their  place  of  concealment, 
was  so  ingenious,  that  Franklin  describes  it.  The  sea 
son  made  a  fire  necessary  ;  but  a  fire  kindled  in  the  usual 
way  on  the  surface  of  the  ground  being  unsafe,  they  dug 
holes  in  the  earth  two  or  three  feet  in  depth  and  width, 
in  the  bottoms  of  which  they  made  small  fires  of  char 
coal  chipped  with  their  hatchets  from  burnt  logs  and 
stumps.  Round  these  they  sat  with  their  legs  hanging 
down  from  the  knees,  and  their  feet  just  above  the  coals, 
thus  securing  a  very  essential  condition  of  rapid  move 
ment,  while  there  was  neither  flame  nor  smoke  to  betray 
them.  The  prints  of  their  bodies  as  thus  disposed  were 
plainly  seen  round  several  such  holes  ;  but  they  were  too 
few,  it  appeared,  to  expect  any  advantage  from  an  attack 
on  the  garrison,  or  even  its  scouting-parties. 

By  the  time  Franklin  had  effected  the  arrangements 
for  guarding  the  back  settlements,  he  received  a  com- 


298  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

munication  from  Governor  Morris,  informing  him  that 
the  Assembly  had  been  summoned  to  meet,  and  wishing 
him  to  attend,  if  he  could  prudently  leave  the  frontier. 
He  received  various  letters  also  from  his  private  friends, 
to  the  same  effect ;  and  as  the  back  settlers  now  felt 
pretty  secure  on  their  farms,  he  determined  to  return 
home.  He  did  so  the  more  readily,  to  quote  his  own 
words,  "  as  a  New-England  officer,  Colonel  Clapham, 
experienced  in  Indian  warfare,  being  on  a  visit  at  Fort 
Allen,  consented  to  accept  the  command."  Having  pa 
raded  the  troops,  therefore,  he  read  to  them  the  commis 
sion  he  had  prepared  for  Clapham  ;  introduced  him  to 
them  as  a  skilful  officer,  better  qualified  than  himself  for 
the  command  of  such  a  post ;  and  adding  some  friendly 
and  cheering  words  of  exhortation  and  encouragement, 
took  leave,  accompanied  by  an  escort  as  far  as  Beth 
lehem. 

While  at  Gnadenhutteiv Franklin  received  from  Phil 
adelphia,  through  the  considerate  affection  and  hospitable 
bounty  of  Mrs.  Franklin,  various  consignments  of  cold 
roast-meats,  mince-pies,  apples,  and  other  table-comforts, 
which  he  shared  freely  with  those  about  him  ;  and,  in  his 
letters  to  his  wife,  he  gives  a  pleasant  account  of  his  sit 
uation,  showing  that  the  same  buoyant  and  kindly  nature 
that  made  his  home  a  happy  one,  served  also  to  impart 
a  tone  of  cheerfulness  to  life  at  Fort  Allen.  "  We  have," 
says  he,  under  date  of  January  25,  1756,  "  enjoyed  your 
roast  beef,  and  this  day  began  on  your  roast  veal.  All 
agree  that  they  are  both  the  best  that  ever  were  of  the 
kind.  Your  citizens,  that  have  their  dinners  hot-and-hot, 
know  nothing  of  good  eating.  We  find  it  in  much  greater 
perfection  when  the  kitchen  is  fourscore  miles  from  the 
dining-room.  The  apples  are  extremely  welcome,  and 

do  bravely  after  our  salt  pork As  to  our  lodging, 

it  is  on  deal  feather-beds,  in  warm  blankets Ev- 


HIS    DISPOSITION.  299 

ery  other  day,  since  we  have  been  here,  it  has  rained 

more  or  less,  to  our  no  small  hinderance All  the 

things  you  sent  me,  from  time  to  time,  are  safely  come 
to  hand,  and  our  living  grows  every  day  more  comfort 
able.  ....  All  the  gentlemen  drink  your  health  at  ev 
ery  meal,  having  always  something  on  the  table  to  put 

them  in  mind  of  you We  all  continue  well,  and 

much  the  better  for  the  refreshments  you  have  sent  us. 
In  short,  we  do  very  well ;  for,  though  there  are  many 
things  besides  what  we  have,  that  used  to  seem  neces 
sary  to  comfortable  living,  yet  we  have  learned  to  do 
without  them." 

In  November  of  the  same  year,  while  at  Easton,  with 
other  commissioners,  attending  a  conference  with  the 
headmen  of  the  Delaware  Indians,  being  disappointed  in 
not  receiving  a  line  from  his  wife  by  a  very  convenient 
opportunity,  he  writes  to  her  in  a  playful  vein  of  mock 
resentment,  a  specimen  of  which  may  be  pleasant  to  the 
reader  ;  "  My  dear  child,"  (his  usual  style  of  address  to 
her,)  "  I  wrote  to  you  a  few  days  since,  by  a  special 
messenger,  and  enclosed  letters  for  all  our  wives  and 
sweethearts,  expecting  to  hear  from  you  by  his  return, 
and  to  have  the  northern  newspapers  and  English  letters 
per  packet ;  but  here  he  is  without  a  scrap  for  poor  us. 
So  I  had  a  good  mind  not  to  write  you  by  this  opportu 
nity  ;  but  I  can  never  be  ill-natured  enough,  even  when 

there  is  most  occasion I  think  I  won't  tell  you 

that  we  are  all  well,  nor  that  we  expect  to  return  home 
about  the  middle  of  the  week.  My  duty  to  mother,  [his 
wife's  mother,]  love  to  children,  &c.,  I  am  your  loving 
husband.  —  P.  S.  I  have  scratched  out  the  loving  words, 
they  being  writ  in  haste,  by  mistake,  when  \forgot  I  was 
angry  r 

This  buoyancy  of  spirit,  from  which  cheering  influ 
ences  are  ever  emanating,  if  not  as  indispensable,  in  the 


300  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

leader  of  an  enterprise,  whether  of  difficulty  or  danger, 
as  the  ability  to  plan  and  command,  is  at  least  of  high 
value  when  associated  with  such  ability,  especially  when 
men  are  placed  in  unforeseen  and  unusual  circumstances; 
and  Franklin's  deportment  in  relation  to  his  private 
affairs,  as  well  as  in  his  long  career  of  public  service, 
presents  abundant  evidence  of  the  union  in  himself  of 
both  qualities. 

In  connection  with  the  agreeable  indications  of  char 
acter  just  given,  it  will  be  interesting  to  turn  for  a  mo 
ment  to  some  evidence  of  Franklin's  sentiments  and  of 
the  tone  of  his  feelings  and  affections,  in  relation  to  sad 
der  and  more  sober  themes.  On  his  return  home  from 
the  frontier,  he  received  news  of  the  death  of  his  brother 
John,  at  Boston.  This  brother  had  married,  for  his  sec 
ond  wife,  a  widow  by  the  name  of  Hubbard,  to  whose 
daughter  by  her  first  husband  was  addressed  the  letter 
from  which  the  following  passages  are  taken  : — 

"  I  condole  with  you,"  says  Franklin  to  Miss  Hubbard. 
"  We  have  lost  a  most  dear  and  valuable  relative.  But 
it  is  the  will  of  God  and  nature  that  these  mortal  bodies 
be  laid  aside,  when  the  soul  is  to  enter  into  real  life. 
....  We  are  spirits.  That  bodies  should  be  lent  us, 
while  they  can  afford  us  pleasure,  assist  us  in  acquiring 
knowledge,  or  in  doing  good  to  our  fellow-creatures,  is 
a  kind  and  benevolent  act  of  God.  When  they  become 
unfit  for  these  purposes,  and  afford  us  pain  instead  of 
pleasure,  instead  of  an  aid  become  an  incumbrance,  and 
answer  none  of  the  intentions  for  which  they  were  given, 
it  is  equally  kind  and  benevolent  that  a  way  is  provided 
by  which  we  may  get  rid  of  them.  Death  is  that  way." 
In  a  letter  to  his  sister  Jane  and  her  husband,  Edward 
Mecorn,  on  occasion  of  the  death  of  his  aged  mother, 
who,  in  her  last  years,  had  been  most  kindly  tended  by 
them,  he  refers  to  her  in  the  tcnderest  tone  of  filial 


,WJ  AFFECTIONS.  301 

affection,  and  expresses  his  grateful  thanks  to  them  for 
the  personal  and  long-continued  care  of  her,  which  his 
distance  put  it  out  of  his  own  power,  or  that  of  his  family, 
to  bestow ;  and  in  another  letter  to  the  same  sister,  upon 
the  death  of  one  of  her  children,  he  says  :  "  I  am  pleased 
to  find  that,  in  your  troubles,  you  do  not  overlook  the 
mercies  of  God,  and  that  you  consider,  as  such,  the  chil 
dren  still  spared  to  you.  This  is  a  right  temper  of  mind, 
and  must  be  acceptable  to  that  beneficent  Being,  who  is, 
in  various  ways,  continually  showering  down  his  bles 
sings  upon  many  who  receive  them  as  things  of  course, 
and  feel  no  grateful  sentiments  arising  in  their  hearts  on 
the  enjoyment  of  them." 

His  respect  and  affection  for  his  mother  were  strong, 
and  manifested  themselves  among  other  ways  in  frequent 
presents  that  contributed  to  her  comfort  and  solace  in 
her  advancing  years.  In  one  of  his  letters  to  her,  for 
example,  he  sends  her  a  moidore,  a  gold  piece  of  the 
value  of  six  dollars,  "  toward  chaise-hire,"  says  he,  "  that 
you  may  ride  warm  to  meetings  during  the  winter."  In 
another,  he  gives  her  an  account  of  the  growth  and  im 
provement  of  his  son  and  daughter;  topics  which,  as  he 
well  understood,  are  ever  as  dear  to  the  grandmother  as 
to  the  mother.  Of  the  character  and  capacities  of  the 
sou  it  will  be  sufficient  to  say  that,  before  he  was  thirty- 
five  years  old,  he  was  appointed  governor  of  New  Jer 
sey,  under  the  administration  of  Lord  Bute,  shortly  after 
the  accession  of  George  III.  to  the  British  throne.  Of 
the  daughter,  afterward  Mrs.  Bache,  he  says :  "  Sally 
grows  a  fine  girl,  and  is  extremely  industrious  with  her 
needle,  and  delights  in  her  work.  She  is  of  a  most  af 
fectionate  temper,  and  perfectly  dutiful  and  obliging  to 
her  parents  and  to  all.  Perhaps  I  flatter  myself  too  much, 
but  I  have  hopes  that  she  will  prove  an  ingenuous,  sen 
sible,  notable,  and  worthy  woman,  like  her  aunt  Jenny  ;" 
26 


302  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

and  he  adds  the  following  notice  of  himself:  "  I  enjoy, 
through  mercy,  a  tolerable  share  of  health.  I  read  a 
good  deal,  ride  a  little,  do  a  little  business  for  myself 
and  now  and  then  for  others,  retire  when  I  can,  and  go 
into  company  when  I  please.  So  the  years  roll  round  ; 
and  the  last  will  come,  when  I  would  rather  have  it  said, 
' He  lived  usefully,''  than  'He  died  rick.'  " 

Among  the  more  marked  evidences  of  the  generous 
interest  he  took  in  the  welfare  of  his  kindred,  as  well  as 
the  prudence  and  good  sense  with  which  he  manifested 
that  interest,  may  be  mentioned  his  furnishing  one  of  his 
nephews,  Benjamin  Mecom,  with  the  means  of  establish 
ing  himself  in  business  as  a  printer,  first  in  the  island  of 
Antigua,  and  subsequently  in  Boston,  together  with  the 
manner  in  which  this  was  done.  He  reserved  to  himself, 
in  the  outset,  one  third  of  the  profits,  as  in  his  other  part 
nerships  in  the  same  business  ;  intending,  however,  from 
the  first,  as  he  wrote  to  his  nephew's  mother,  not  only  to 
give  him  ultimately  the  whole  establishment,  but  also 
the  accumulated  proceeds  he  might  have  himself  re 
ceived  during  the  connection  ;  but  deeming  it  judicious 
to  reserve  to  himself,  as  a  partner,  the  right  to  exercise 
some  control  over  his  nephew  till  he  should  acquire  some 
experience  and  correct  a  certain  fickleness  of  purpose 
which  he  had  occasionally  evinced.  Being  encouraged 
by  the  management  of  his  nephew,  he  shortly  modified 
the  terms  of  the  connection,  so  as  to  require  him  merely 
to  pay  over  a  certain  portion  of  his  profits  to  his  mother, 
together  with  a  small  amount  of  sugar  and  other  articles 
for  his  own  family,  and  he  might  appropriate  all  the  rest 
of  his  earnings  to  himself.  The  result  was  favorable,  as 
appears  by  a  subsequent  letter,  written  to  the  parents  of 
his  nephew  on  the  arrival  of  the  latter  at  Philadelphia 
from  Antigua,  on  his  way  to  Boston.  In  that  letter, 
Franklin  states  that  his  nephew  had  settled  all  his  ac- 


SENTIMENTS.  303 

counts  honorably,  had  cleared  his  printing-office,  and  had 
good  credit  and  some  money  in  London,  with  which,  to 
gether  with  some  further  assistance  from  himself,  the 
young  man  was  going  to  Boston  to  set  himself  up  as  a 
printer  and  bookseller. 

While  awaiting  at  New  York  the  lingering  movements 
of  Lord  Loudon,  Franklin,  under  date  of  the  19th  of 
April,  1757,  wrote  to  Mrs.  Mecom  respecting  their  half- 
sister,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Dowse,  a  letter  so  strongly  marked 
by  that  considerate  kindness  of  heart  which  was  one  of 
the  most  deep-seated  and  habitual  sentiments  of  his 
breast,  that  we  can  not  forego  the  gratification  of  tran 
scribing  portions  of  it,  not  only  in  justice  to  him,  but 
also  in  the  hope  that  others  may  profit  by  it.  Mrs.  Dowse 
was  the  eldest  child  of  Franklin's  father  by  his  first  wife, 
and  was  now  eighty  years  old,  having  been  born  at  Ec- 
ton,  in  England,  March  2,  1677  ;  and  though  her  hus 
band  was  yet  living,  they  were  so  poor  as  to  need  occa 
sional  assistance  from  their  friends.  It  is  to  this  aged 
sister  that  the  following  passages  refer  :  "  As  having 
their  own  way  is  one  of  the  greatest  comforts  of  life  to 
old  people,  I  think  their  friends  should  endeavor  to  ac 
commodate  them  in  that,  as  well  as  in  anything  else. 
When  they  have  lived  long  in  a  house,  it  becomes  natu 
ral  to  them;  they  are  almost  as  closely  connected  with  it 
as  the  tortoise  with,  his  shell ;  they  die,  if  you  tear  them 
out  of  it.  Old  folks  and  old  trees,  if  you  remove  them, 
it  is  ten  to  one  that  you  kill  them  ;  so  let  our  good  old 
sister  be  no  more  importuned  on  that  Read.  We  are 
growing  old  fast  ourselves,  and  shall  expect  the  same 
kind  of  indulgences  ;  and  if  we  give  them,  we  shall  have 

a  right  to  receive  them  in  our  turns I  hope  you 

visit  sister  as  often  as  your  affairs  will  permit,  and  afford 
her  what  assistance  and  comfort  you  can  in  her  present 
situation.  Old  age,  infirmities,  and  poverty,  joined,  are 


\ 
304  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

afflictions  enough.  The  neglect  and  slights  of  friends 
and  near  relations  should  never  be  added.  People  in 
her  circumstances  are  apt  to  suspect  these  —  sometimes 
without  cause  ;  and  appearances  should,  therefore,  be  at 
tended  to,  in  our  conduct  toward  them,  as  well  as  re 
alities" 

Writing  again  at  New  York,  in  May,  1757,  to  Mrs. 
Mecom,  in  reply  to  inquiries  from  her  respecting  a  young 
woman  with  whom  her  son  Benjamin  had  become  ac 
quainted  in  Philadelphia  and  whom  he  intended  to  marry, 
and  whose  good  qualities  as  "  a  sweet-tempered,  good 
girl,"  with  "  a  housewifely  education,"  both  Franklin  and 
his  wife  well  knew,  he  remarks  :  "  Your  sister  and  I 
have  a  great  esteem  for  her  ;  and  if  she  will  be  kind 
enough  to  accept  of  our  nephew,  we  think  it  will  be  his 
own  fault  if  he  is  not  as  happy  as  the  married  state  can 
make  him.  The  family  is  a  respectable  one,  but  whether 
there  be  any  fortune  I  know  not ;  and  as  you  do  not  in 
quire  about  that  particular,  I  suppose  you  think,  with 
me,  that  where  everything  else  desirable  is  to  be  met 
with,  that  is  not  very  material.  If  she  does  not  bring  a 
fortune,  she  will  help  to  make  one.  Industry,  frugality, 
and  prudent  economy,  in  a  wife,  are  to  a  tradesman,  in 
their  effects,  a  fortune." 

One  or  two  more  extracts,  covering  somewhat  broader 
ground,  will  make  a  fit  and  interesting  close  to  this  ex 
hibition  of  Franklin's  private  sentiments  and  family  ties. 
They  are  from  a  rather  long  letter  dated  the  6th  of  June, 
1753,  and  usually  cited  as  addressed  to  his  friend  White- 
field,  the  famous  preacher  ;  though  Dr.  Sparks,  on  look 
ing  at  the  original  draft,  found  it  endorsed  by  Franklin's 
own  pen  as  addressed  to  one  Joseph  Huey.  Referring 
to  an  expression  of  thanks  from  the  person  addressed, 
for  some  kindness  done  him  by  Franklin,  the  latter  re 
marks  that  the  only  return  he  should  desire  would  be  an 


FAITH    AND    WORKS.  305 

equal  readiness,  on  his  part,  "  to  serve  any  other  person 
who  might  need  his  assistance,  and  so  let  good  offices  go 
round;  for  mankind  are  all  of  one  family;"  and  he  then 
proceeds  as  follows  : — 

"  For  my  own  part,  when  I  am  employed  in  serving 
others,  I  do  not  look  upon  myself  as  conferring  favors, 
but  as  paying  debts.  In  my  travels,  and  since  my  set 
tlement,  I  have  received  much  kindness  from  men,  to 
whom  I  shall  never  have  any  opportunity  of  making  the 
least  direct  return  ;  and  numberless  mercies  from  God, 
who  is  infinitely  above  being  benefited  by  our  services. 
Those  kindnesses  from  men,  I  can  therefore  only  return 
on  their  fellow-men  ;  and  I  can  only  show  my  gratitude 
for  these  mercies  from  God,  by  a  readiness  to  help  his 
other  children,  my  brethren.  For  I  do  not  think  that 
thanks  and  compliments,  though  repeated  weekly,  can 
discharge  our  real  obligations  to  each  other,  and  much 
less  those  to  our  Creator.  You  will  see  in  this  my  no 
tion  of  good  works,  that  I  am  far  from  expecting  to  merit 
heaven  by  them.  By  heaven  we  understand  a  state  of 
happiness,  infinite  in  degree,  and  eternal  in  duration.  I 
can  do  nothing  to  deserve  such  rewards.  He  that,  for 
giving  a  draught  of  water  to  a  thirsty  person,  should  ex 
pect  to  be  paid  with  a  good  plantation,  would  be  modest 
in  his  demands  compared  with  those  who  think  they  de 
serve  heaven  for  the  little  good  they  do  on  earth.  Even 
the  mixed,  imperfect  pleasures  we  enjoy  in  this  world, 
are  rather  from  God's  goodness  than  our  merit:  how 
much  more  such  happiness  of  heaven!  ....  The  wor 
ship  of  God  is  a  duty  j  the  hearing  and  reading  of  ser 
mons  may  be  useful ;  but  if  men  rest  in  hearing  and  pray 
ing,  as  too  many  do,  it  is  as  if  a  tree  should  value  itself 
on  being  watered  and  putting  forth  leaves,  though  it  never 
produced  any  fruit.  Your  great  Master  thought  much 
less  of  these  outward  appearances  and  professions  than 
26* 


306  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

many  of  his  modern  disciples.  He  preferred  the  doers 
of  the  word  to  the  mere  hearers  ;  the  son  that  seemingly 
refused  to  obey  his  father,  and  yet  performed  his  com 
mands,  to  him  that  professed  his  readiness,  but  neglected 
the  work  ;  the  heretical  but  charitable  Samaritan,  to  the 
uncharitable  though  orthodox  priest  and  sanctified  Le- 
vite ;  and  those  who  gave  food  to  the  hungry,  drink  to 
the  thirsty,  raiment  to  the  naked,  entertainment  to  the 
stranger,  and  relief  to  the  sick,  though  they  never  heard 
of  his  name,  he  declares  shall  in  the  last  day  be  accept 
ed  ;  when  those  who  cry,  '  Lord  !  Lord  !'  and  who  value 
themselves  upon  their  faith,  though  great  enough  to  per 
form  miracles,  but  have  neglected  good  works,  shall  be 
rejected." 

Just  before  going  to  the  frontier,  it  will  be  recollected, 
Franklin  had  procured  the  passage  of  a  law,  framed  by 
himself,  for  raising  a  military  force  by  voluntary  enlist 
ment  ;  and  had  written  and  published  a  pamphlet,  an 
swering  current  objections  to  the  measure,  arid  commend 
ing  it  to  the  public  approbation.  On  his  return  to  Phila 
delphia  he  found  the  people,  excepting  the  Quakers,  very 
generally  in  favor  of  the  new  law,  and  companies  enough 
enrolled  and  officered  to  form  a  large  regiment.  At  a 
meeting  of  the  officers  of  these  companies,  shortly  after 
his  return,  they  chose  him  for  their  colonel,  and  he  ac 
cepted  the  station.  The  regiment  mustered  at  its  first 
review  upward  of  a  thousand  men,  rank  and  file,  besides 
an  artillery  company  over  a  hundred  strong,  with  four 
brass  field-pieces,  which  they  soon  learned  to  handle  with 
dexterity  and  effect.  At  the  close  of  the  review  they 
escorted  their  colonel  home,  and,  in  firing  their  salute, 
the  field-pieces  made  such  a  concussion  as  to  break  sev 
eral  articles  of  glass  belonging  to  his  electrical  appara 
tus.  In  relating  these  incidents,  Franklin  adds  that  his 
new  honors  proved  not  much  less  brittle,  inasmuch  as  all 


MILITARY    HONORS.  307 

their  commissions  were  soon  after  vacated  by  the  repeal, 
in  England,  of  the  law  under  which  they  were  held. 

The  personal  qualities  and  public  services  of  Frank 
lin,  however,  had  won  for  him  better  and  less  brittle 
honors  than  any  commission,  even  from  his  majesty  of 
England,  could  confer.  As  a  token  of  the  esteem  with 
which  he  was  regarded,  it  may  be  mentioned  that,  while 
holding  his  colonelcy,  having  occasion  to  visit  Virginia, 
his  officers,  to  use  his  own  words,  "  took  it  into  their  heads 
that  it  would  be  proper  for  them  to  escort  him  out  of  town 
as  far  as  the  lower  ferry."  For  this  purpose,  just  as  he 
was  about  to  mount  his  horse,  they  rode  up  to  his  door 
in  full  uniform,  alike  to  his  surprise  and  regret ;  for  he 
had  a  strong  repugnance  to  display,  and  if  he  had  re 
ceived  beforehand  the  least  intimation  of  what  was  in 
tended,  he  would  have  avoided  it.  But  it  was  now  too 
late,  and  he  was  constrained  to  submit  to  the  well-meant 
but  annoying  honor. 

Some  envious  personal  enemy  of  his  wrote  an  account 
of  this  affair  to  Thomas  Penn,  who  lived  in  London,  and 
it  served  to  impart  new  bitterness  to  the  hatred  with 
which  the  Proprietary  already  regarded  Franklin,  for 
the  prominent  part  he  had  taken  in  the  Assembly  against 
exempting  the  proprietary  estates  in  the  province  from 
taxation.  Penn  had  even  the  effrontery  not  only  to  ac 
cuse  Franklin  to  the  ministers  of  the  crown  with  being 
the  chief  obstruction  to  the  king's  service  in  the  province, 
by  opposing  grants  of  money  in  proper  form,  and  with 
the  design  to  change  the  provincial  government  by  force 
of  arms  —  in  evidence  of  which  he  cited  the  abovenamed 
escort  —  but  he  also  endeavored,  though  ineffectually,  to 
procure  his  removal  as  the  head  of  the  colonial  postoffice 
department. 

With  Morris,  the  provincial  governor,  though  bound, 
like  his  predecessors,  by  the  instructions  of  the  Propri- 


308  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

etary,  Franklin,  notwithstanding  the  leading  part  he  took 
in  the  Assembly  in  its  disputes  with  that  officer,  continued 
personally  on  good  terms  ;  and  the  governor  occasionally 
consulted  with  him  in  relation  to  public  affairs.  In  the 
measures  taken  in  aid  of  Braddock's  expedition,  they  co 
operated  ;  and  on  hearing  of  its  fatal  issue,  Morris  in 
stantly  sent  for  Franklin,  to  confer  with  him  on  the  means 
of  protecting  the  back  settlements.  We  have  already 
seen  with  what  ample  powers  Franklin  was  employed 
on  the  frontier  ;  and  after  his  return  from  that  service, 
the  governor  offered  him  a  general's  commission,  if  he 
would,  with  provincial  troops,  undertake  the  same  enter 
prise  in  which  Braddock  had  so  disastrously  failed.  In 
reference  to  this  last  proposal,  Franklin,  after  a  modest 
remark  respecting  his  qualifications  for  military  employ 
ment,  intimates  that  the  governor  himself  also  probably 
expected  less  from  him  in  that  way  than  from  his  popu 
larity  as  a  means  of  raising  the  requisite  force,  and  from 
his  influence  in  the  Assembly  for  obtaining  funds.  The 
project,  however,  was  not  pressed  ;  and  Morris  was  not 
long  after  succeeded  by  Governor  Denny. 

On  the  arrival  of  the  new  governor,  in  1757,  the  city 
authorities  of  Philadelphia  gave  him  a  public  dinner  by 
way  of  welcome,  and  introduction  to  the  principal  citi 
zens,  with  whom  his  station  and  character  would  natu 
rally  bring  him  into  political  and  social  connection  ;  and 
he  took  the  occasion  to  present  to  Franklin  the  gold 
medal  voted  him  by  the  Royal  Society  in  London  for  his 
discoveries  in  electricity  and  his  eminent  success  in  ad 
vancing  that  branch  of  knowledge.  Governor  Denny 
executed  this  commission  on  behalf  of  the  society  in  ap 
propriate  terms  of  respectful  eulogy  ;  and  after  dinner, 
while  the  company  generally  were  engaged  with  their 
conversation  and  wine,  Denny,  taking  Franklin  into  an 
adjoining  apartment,  told  him  how  strongly  he  had  been 


GOVERNOR    DENNY.  309 

urged,  in  England,  and  how  earnestly  he  desired,  to  cul 
tivate  his  friendship  and  avail  himself  of  his  advice  in  re 
lation  to  public  affairs  and  the  management  of  his  admin 
istration  ;  that  he  should  cheerfully  render  him  any  ser 
vice  in  his  power;  that  nothing  could  more  effectually  pro 
mote  the  public  good  than  harmony  between  the  execu 
tive  and  the  representatives  of  the  people ;  that  no  per 
son  could  exert  a  more  efficient  and  wholesome  influence 
in  this  way  than  he  could  ;  and  that  such  a  course  would 
certainly  be  followed  not  only  by  the  most  hearty  ac 
knowledgments,  but  also  by  the  most  substantial  benefits. 

This  conversation  seems  to  have  been  skilfully  con 
ducted  by  the  governor ;  but  with  all  its  well-worded  as 
surances  of  esteem  and  future  advantage,  its  true  aim 
and  intent  were  clearly  perceived  by  Franklin,  who 
promptly  yet  courteously  replied  that  his  circumstances, 
by  the  blessing  of  Providence,  rendered  him  independent 
of  proprietary  favors,  which,  as  a  representative  of  the 
people,  he  could  not  in  any  event  accept ;  that  no  feeling 
of  personal  hostility  had  at  any  time  influenced  his  pub 
lic  conduct;  that  his  opposition  to  the  policy  of  the  Pro 
prietary  had  proceeded  solely  from  his  convictions  as  to 
the  rights  and  true  interests  of  the  province  ;  that  if  the 
measures  proposed  by  the  Proprietary  or  his  deputies 
should  be  in  accordance  with  his  own  views  of  justice 
and  the  public  welfare,  he  should  cheerfully  and  gladly 
give  them  his  hearty  and  earnest  support ;  and  thanking 
the  governor  for  his  expressions  of  personal  regard,  in 
timated  a  hope  that  he  was  about  to  enter  upon  his  ad 
ministration  unencumbered  with  the  usual  Proprietary 
instructions,  which  had  been  the  real  source  of  all  those 
contests  with  the  Assembly,  that  had  been  so  annoying 
to  preceding  governors  of  the  province,  and  had  so  much 
impeded  the  transaction  of  the  public  business. 

Thus  the  interview  ended ;  and  though  Governor  Denny 


310  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

then  made  no  explanations  on  the  last  point,  yet,  as  soon 
as  his  official  duties  brought  him  into  contact  with  the 
Assembly,  the  old  instructions  made  their  appearance, 
reproducing  the  old  controversies,  in  which  Franklin 
took  the  same  leading  part  as  before  —  the  principal  re 
ports  and  other  documents  of  the  Assembly  being  the 
productions  of  his  practised  and  vigorous  pen. 

These  official  controversies,  however,  occasioned  no 
personal  animosity  between  the  new  governor  and  Frank 
lin,  nor  any  interruption  of  their  social  intercourse  ;  and 
Franklin  describes  Denny  as  having  been  a  man  of  let 
ters,  of  agreeable  conversation  and  manners,  and  well 
acquainted  with  the  world. 

The  obnoxious  instructions,  with  which  the  Proprie 
tary  obstinately  persisted  in  fettering  the  discretionary 
powers  of  the  governor,  were  so  repugnant  to  all  ideas 
of  equal  rights  and  the  general  welfare  of  the  people, 
and  interfered  so  seriously  with  the  services  which  the 
Assembly  were  sincerely  disposed  to  render  to  the  sov 
ereign,  but  which,  under  the  instructions,  they  could  not 
render  without  wholly  abandoning  the  chartered  privi 
leges  of  their  constituents,  that  they  determined  to  re 
main  no  longer  in  such  a  position,  but  to  petition  the 
king  for  a  redress  of  their  grievances  ;  and  they  fixed 
on  Franklin  as  their  agent  to  carry  over  their  memorial 
and  lay  their  complaints  before  his  majesty 

The  immediate  occasion  of  this  step  on  the  part  of  the 
Assembly  was  the  rejection  by  the  governor,  acting  un 
der  his  instructions,  of  a  bill  for  raising  sixty  thousand 
pounds  for  the  king's  use  ;  of  which  the  sum  often  thou 
sand  pounds  was  to  be  subject  to  the  order  of  Lord  Lou- 
don,  who  had  then  recently  arrived  in  the  country,  and 
superseded  General  Shirley  as  the  commander-in-chief 
of  his  majesty's  forces  in  America. 

Franklin  promptly  made  preparation  for  his  departure; 


•*        TilK    EARL    OF    LOUDON.  311 

and  he  had  actually  caused  his  sea-stores  to  be  put  on 
board  of  the  packet  at  New  York  in  which  he  was  to 
sail,  when  Lord  Loudon  presented  himself  in  Philadel 
phia,  in  the  hope  that  he  might,  by  his  personal  interpo 
sition,  be  able  to  reconcile  the  differences  between  the 
governor  and  the  Assembly,  and  thus  remove  the  chief 
impediment  to  the  public  service  in  the  province  of  Penn 
sylvania.  With  this  view,  his  lordship  requested  Gov 
ernor  Denny  and  Mr.  Franklin  to  meet  him  and  make 
him  fully  acquainted  with  the  nature  of  the  differences 
in  question,  and  the  state  of  the  controversy  respecting 
them.  The  proposed  conference  was  accordingly  held, 
and  the  whole  matter  discussed.  Franklin  presented  a 
full  view  of  the  grounds  taken  by  the  Assembly,  a  brief 
sketch  of  which  has  already  been  given  ;  while  Governor 
Denny  simply  placed  himself  upon  his  instructions,  to 
gether  with  the  bond  to  obey  them,  which  he,  like  his 
predecessors,  had  been  constrained  to  execute  to  the 
Proprietary,  and  the  forfeiture  of  which  would  utterly 
ruin  him  in  point  of  property. 

It  speaks  well  for  Denny's  individual  sense  of  justice 
and  magnanimity,  that,  notwithstanding  the  critical  and 
perilous  position  in  which  the  penalty  of  his  bond  placed 
him,  he  seemed  willing,  as  Franklin  states,  to  encounter 
the  hazard  of  its  forfeiture,  if  the  course  of  official  action, 
which  would  expose  him  to  it,  should  be  advised  by  Lord 
Loudon.  But  though  this  disposition  on  the  part  of  the 
governor  raises  a  fair  and  strong  presumption  of  the 
odious  character  of  the  Proprietary's  instructions,  still  his 
lordship  not  only  declined  the  responsibility  of  giving  the 
advice  suggested,  but  urged  concession  on  the  part  of  the 
Assembly,  and  entreated  Franklin  to  exert  his  utmost  in 
fluence  to  that  end ;  declaring  that,  unless  that  body  yield 
ed,  he  would  furnish  no  troops  for  the  defence  of  their 
provincial  frontier. 


312  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

Franklin  laid  the  whole  matter  before  the  Assembly, 
accompanying  his  statement,  however,  with  a  series  of 
resolutions,  drawn  up  by  himself,  setting  forth  the  rights 
of  the  province,  and  declaring  them  suspended  by  force, 
against  which  they  entered  a  solemn  protest ;  and  then, 
dropping  the  bill  already  passed  and  rejected,  another 
bill,  so  framed  as  not  to  clash  with  the  instructions,  was 
passed  by  the  Assembly  and  signed  by  the  governor. 

Thus,  from  the  resources  of  his  own  mind,  and  through 
the  legitimate  influence  he  had  acquired  in  the  Assembly 
by  his  abilities  and  weight  of  character,  Franklin  ar 
ranged  this  difficult  and  troublesome  affair  in  such  man 
ner  as  not  to  concede  any  provincial  right,  and  at  the 
same  time  enable  the  provincial  authorities  to  meet  the 
public  exigency,  now  become,  from  the  temper  and  move 
ments  of  the  Indians  on  the  frontier,  very  pressing  and 
full  of  danger  to  the  back  settlements. 

But  while  thus  detained  at  Philadelphia  in  performing 
a  public  service  at  once  so  arduous,  patriotic,  and  loyal, 
the  ship,  in  which  he  had  engaged  a  passage  for  England, 
sailed,  taking  with  it  the  stores  he  had  provided  for  him 
self  at  no  trifling  expense,  and  for  the  loss  of  which  his 
only  compensation  was  thanks  for  his  services  from  Lord 
Loudon,  to  whom  nevertheless  accrued  all  the  reputation 
of  adjusting  the  difficulties  which  occasioned  the  loss,  and 
of  putting  the  wheels  of  government  again  in  motion  —  a 
very  fair  specimen  of  the  sense  of  justice  usually  enter 
tained  by  mother-countries  and  their  great  functionaries 
toward  the  native  subjects  of  their  colonial  dependencies. 
Lord  Loudon,  upon  seeing  the  object  of  his  visit  to 
Philadelphia  thus  accomplished,  returned  immediately  to 
New  York  ;  and  in  a  day  or  two  later  Franklin  followed, 
that  he  might  take  the  next  packet  for  England,  which, 
as  his  lordship,  to  whose  orders  it  was  subject,  had  as 
sured  him  would  sail  on  the  Monday  then  next  to  come. 


LORD  LOUDON'S  CHARACTER.  313 

Indecision  and  procrastination,  however,  were  the  most 
prominent  features  of  Lord  London's  character;  and 
April,  May,  and  much  of  June,  went  by,  before  the  de 
spatches  he  wished  to  send  to  England  were  ready,  though 
promised  almost  daily  during  that  long  period  ;  thus  oc 
casioning  to  Franklin  not  only  great  annoyance,  but  at 
least  equal  surprise  that  so  inefficient  a  man  should  be 
intrusted  with  such  high  duties,  as  those  which  then  per 
tained  to  the  commander-in-chief  of  his  majesty's  forces 
in  America.  The  character  of  Loudon,  however,  was 
soon  understood  by  Pitt  the  elder,  who  then  wielded  the 
power  of  the  British  empire,  and  who,  distinguished  as 
he  was  for  executive  ability  and  vigor,  could  not  long 
tolerate  so  dilatory  and  inefficient  an  agent,  but  speedily 
recalled  him,  to  make  way  for  the  far  abler  and  more  ac 
tive  men,  Lord  Amherst  and  General  Wolfe. 

The  character  of  Lord  Loudon,  as  a  public  man,  can 
not  be  more  pithily  described  than  it  is  in  an  anecdote 
related  by  Franklin.  While  lingering  in  New  York  as 
stated,  he  met  a  messenger  from  Philadelphia,  named 
Innis,  who  had  just  come  on  with  a  packet  from  Gover 
nor  Denny  to  Loudon,  who  told  him  to  call  the  next 
morning  for  his  answer.  Two  weeks  after,  Franklin 
again  met  Irinis,  and  was  told  by  him  that  he  had  called 
every  morning  on  Lord  Loudon  for  the  promised  reply, 
and  it  was  not  even  yet  ready.  "  Is  it  possible,  when  he 
writes  so  much,  and  is  always  at  his  desk  ]"  said  Frank 
lin.  "  Yes,"  said  Innis,  "  but  he  is  like  the  St.  George 
on  the  signs,  always  on  horseback  and  never  riding  on." 

At  length,  however,  about  the  middle  of  June,  the 
packet  sailed,  with  Loudoii's  despatches  and  Franklin 
on  board,  and  reached  Falmouth,  in  the  south  of  Eng 
land,  on  the  morning  of  the  17th  of  July,  1757.  As  the 
ship  neared  the  English  coast,  at  about  twelve  o'clock  of 
the  preceding  night,  she  was,  through  the  heedlessness 
27 


314  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

of  the  man  on  the  lookout,  in  extreme  peril  of  being- 
wrecked  on  the  rocks  of  Scilly,  lying  out  in  the  sea  off 
Land's-End,  and  suggesting  the  idea  that  they  were  once 
connected  with  that  most  southwesterly  point  of  the  Eng 
lish  coast.  The  escape  was  narrow  and  the  peril  great; 
and  the  impression  thereby  made  on  Franklin's  mind  is 
abundantly  evinced  by  the  following  passage  from  a  letter 
to  his  wife,  giving  an  account  of  the  voyage,  and  written 
at  Falmouth  in  the  evening  of  the  day  on  which  he  landed  : 
"  The  bell  ringing  for  church,"  says  he,  "  we  went  thither 
immediately,  and,  with  hearts  full  of  gratitude,  returned 
thanks  to  God  for  the  mercies  we  had  received.  Were 
I  a  Roman  Catholic,  perhaps  I  should,  on  this  occasion, 
vow  to  build  a  chapel  to  some  saint ;  but  as  I  am  not,  if 
I  were  to  vow  at  all,  it  should  be  to  build  a  lighthouse." 


GRIEVANCES    OF    PENNSYLVANIA.  315 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

GRIEVANCES  OF   PENNSYLVANIA REMONSTRANCE    TO    PRO 
PRIETARIES  MISREPRESENTATIONS     EXPO  SED CAUSE 

PREPARED    FOR    HEARING EXCURSIONS  IN    ENGLAND 

FAMILY    CONNECTIONS CANADA VISITS    SCOTLAND 

MR.   STRAHAN MARRIAGE  PROPOSED MISS   STEVENSON 

AND  HER  STUDIES POLITICAL  ABUSE PENNSYLVANIA'S 

SHARE   OF  INDEMNITY  MONEY  FROM  PARLIAMENT. 

BEFORE  entering  upon  the  narration  of  Franklin's  life 
and  services  in  England,  as  the  agent  of  Pennsylvania,  it 
will  be  proper  to  give  a  brief  view  of  the  reasons  for 
sending  him  thither.  These  reasons  are  well  set  forth  in 
a  report,  dated  the  22d  of  February,  1757,  drawn  up  by 
himself  as  chairman  of  the  Assembly's  committee  on 
grievances.  They  are  founded  on  alleged  violations  of 
the  grant  made  by  King  Charles  II.  to  William  Penn;  of 
Penn's  own  charter  based  on  that  grant,  and  defining  the 
forms  of  government  under  which  the  province  was  set 
tled  ;  of  certain  fundamental  laws  of  the  province  made 
pursuant  to  that  charter;  and  finally  of  some  of  the  prin 
ciples  and  provisions  of  the  constitution  arid  laws  of  the 
mother-country  most  essential  to  civil  liberty  and  justice, 
arid  from  the  protection  of  which,  British  subjects,  wher 
ever  dwelling,  could  not  be  rightfully  excluded  by  the 
king  or  his  grantees. 

The  royal  grant,  which  was  justly  regarded  by  the 
colonists  as  the  basis  of  the  provincial  constitution,  and 
not  to  be  violated  or  modified  by  the  grantee  or  his  sue- 


310  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

cessors,  gave  to  "  William  Perm,  his  heirs  and  assigns, 
and  to  his  and  their  deputies,"  full  power  to  make  laws, 
"  according  to  their  best  discretion,  by  and  with  the  ad 
vice,  assent,  and  approbation,  of  the  freemen  of  the  prov 
ince  or  their  delegates,  for  the  good  and  happy  govern 
ment  thereof,"  including  "  the  raising  of  money,  or  any 
other  end  appertaining  to  the  public  state,  peace,  or 
safety,"  of  the  commonwealth  thus  to  be  constituted. 
This  broad  provision  of  the  king's  grant,  it  was  held, 
precluded  all  those  instructions  which  had  occasioned  so 
much  trouble,  controversy,  and  impediment  to  the  public 
business,  not  only  because  it  was  absolutely  binding  on 
the  deputy-governors  as  well  as  their  principals  the  Pro 
prietaries,  but  also  because  such  instructions  were  wholly 
incompatible  with  that  "  best  discretion"  which  they  were 
bound  to  exercise,  and  this,  too,  in  conjunction  with  the 
co-ordinate  "  advice,  assent,  and  approbation,"  of  the 
people  of  the  province,  as  expressed  by  their  represen 
tatives,  in  whom,  it  was  maintained,  the  grant  had  vested 
"  an  original  right  of  legislation,  which  neither  the  Pro 
prietaries  nor  any  other  person  could  divest,  restrain,  or 
abridge,  without  violating  and  destroying  the  letter,  spirit, 
and  design,  of  the  grant." 

The  obnoxious  instructions,  therefore,  were  a  manifest 
encroachment  on  the  vested  rights  of  the  people,  as  well 
as  on  the  legal  and  proper  discretion  of  the  governor  ; 
and  to  such  an  extent  had  they  restrained  and  abridged 
just  legislation,  that  no  bill  to  raise  supplies  for  the  pub 
lic  service,  howsoever  "  reasonable,  expedient,  or  neces 
sary"  it  might  be,  for  the  welfare  and  protection  of  the 
province,  could  be  made  a  law,  unless  on  complying  with 
the  instructions  by  wholly  exempting  the  estates  of  the 
Proprietaries  from  their  equal  rateable  assessments  — 
though  they  constituted  by  far  the  largest  private  inter 
est  in  the  province,  and  would  be  proportionately  bene- 


GRIEVANCES.  317 

fited  by  its  security,  growth,  and  prosperity ;  while,  by 
the  laws  of  England,  "the  rents,  honors,  and  castles,  of 
the  crown,"  though  not  the  private  property  of  the  per 
son  wearing  the  crown,  were  actually  taxed  and  paid 
"their  proportion  of  the  supplies  granted  for  the  defence 
of  the  realm  and  the  support  of  the  government;"  and 
while  the  sovereign  and  his  nobles,  as  well  as  all  other 
tax-paying  inhabitants  of  England,  were  thus  indirectly 
but  really  contributing  "  their  proportion  toward  the  de 
fence  of  America,"  including  Pennsylvania,  it  was  held 
to  be  "in  a  more  especial  manner  the  duty  of  the  Pro 
prietaries  to  pay  their  proportion"  of  the  taxes  required 
for  the  preservation  of  their  own  provincial  estates.  The 
exemption  of  those  estates,  therefore,  was  declared  to 
be  "as  unjust  as  it  was  illegal,  and  as  new  as  it  was  ar 
bitrary." 

It  was  further  urged  that,  by  virtue  alike  of  the  royal 
grant  and  of  the  colonial  charter  framed  by  Penn  him 
self,  the  provincial  Assembly,  when  convened  and  acting 
as  a  legislative  body  in  its  provincial  sphere  and  for  its 
legitimate  purposes,  was  as  fully  endowed  with  all  the 
powers  and  privileges  of  such  a  body  as  the  English 
House  of  Commons,  possessing  the  incontestable  right 
of  granting  supplies  and  laying  taxes  "  in  any  manner 
they  may  think  most  easy  to  the  people,  and  being  the 
sole  judges  of  the  measure,  mode,  and  time,"  of  so  doing  ; 
but  that  the  instructions  of  the  Proprietaries,  neverthe 
less,  tended  directly  and  manifestly  to  subvert  all  those 
rights  and  privileges,  especially  in  assuming  arbitrarily 
to  control  the  action  of  the  Assembly  in  framing  and  pas 
sing  bills  for  raising  money,  so  as  to  render  that  body, 
even  if  it  should  forego  its  just  powers  and  the  rights  of 
its  constituents,  absolutely  unable  to  raise  the  supplies 
requisite  for  the  defence  and  welfare  of  the  province. 

Another  prominent  ground  of  complaint  was  the  con- 
27* 


318  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

ditiori  of  the  judiciary.  Under  the  original  charter  framed 
by  William  Penn,  the  judges  of  the  courts  of  record  held 
their  offices  during  good  behavior ;  but  this  independent 
tenure  had  latterly  been  changed,  and  the  judges  now 
held  only  during  the  pleasure  of  the  Proprietaries  or 
their  deputy-governors.  The  alleged  consequence  was, 
that  the  "judges  being  subject  to  the  influence  and  di 
rection"  of  those  who  gave  them  their  commissions,  the 
laws  were  "  often  wrested  from  their  true  sense  to  serve 
particular  purposes;  the  foundations  of  justice  became 
liable  to  be  destroyed  ;  and  the  lives,  laws,  liberties,  priv 
ileges,  and  properties  of  the  people,  rendered  precarious 
and  insecure." 

The  enlistment,  by  the  officers  of  the  king's  regular 
troops  in  the  colonies,  of  immigrant  servants  bound  for  a 
specific  term  of  years  to  their  masters,  was  also  presented 
as  a  heavy  grievance,  inasmuch  as  it  "  not  only  prevented 
the  cultivation  of  the  land,  and  diminished  the  trade  and 
commerce  of  the  province,"  but  was  rendered  peculiarly 
odious  by  its  unequal  operation ;  for  there  was  no  gen 
eral  regulation  for  an  impartial  distribution  of  the  burden, 
and  the  servants  were  impressed  into  the  army,  not  only 
against  the  consent  of  their  employers,  but  without  ma 
king  the  latter  any  compensation  for  the  loss  of  those 
services  for  which  they  had  paid  and  of  which  they  were 
thus  forcibly  deprived. 

The  Proprietaries,  moreover,  had  pursued  a  most 
odious  policy  in  another  respect.  Although  the  expense 
of  the  treaties  with  the  Indians  for  the  cession  of  their 
lands  and  for  the  regulation  of  intercourse  with  them, 
was  borne  by  the  province,  yet  the  choicest  of  those 
lands  were  monopolized  by  the  Proprietaries.  This 
ground  of  complaint  was  not  included  in  Franklin's  re 
port  to  the  Assembly,  and  was  not,  indeed,  technically 
illegal ;  for  it  had,  with  crafty  foresight,  been  provided 


GRIEVANCES. 


319 


at  an  early  day  that  all  bargains  by  individual  colonists 
with  any  of  the  Indians  for  the  purchase  of  lands,  if  made 
without  the  consent  of  the  Proprietaries,  should  be  ut 
terly  void,  while  the  Proprietaries  themselves  were  not 
subjected  in  this  particular  to  any  restriction.  This  mo 
nopoly  on  their  part,  however,  grew  into  such  an  abuse 
as  greatly  increased  the  odium  against  them,  and  served 
to  extend  and  strengthen  the  general  repugnance  to  the 
whole  scheme  of  their  government. 

Besides  these  complaints  against  the  conduct  and  ad 
ministration  of  the  Proprietaries  and  their  instructed 
deputies,  the  province  had  another  weighty  grievance  to 
complain  of  as  resulting  from  the  action  of  the  king.  By 
the  original  grant  to  William  Penri,  though  the  laws 
passed  by  the  provincial  legislature  were  ultimately  to  be 
submitted  to  the  king  in  council,  and  if  there  rejected 
were  to  become  void,  yet  five  years  were  allowed  for 
making  such  submission,  and  meanwhile  the  laws  be 
came  immediately  operative  in  the  province.  This  pro 
vision  in  the  grant  was  introduced,  not  to  enable  the  kinga 
and  council  to  control  the  internal  policy  of  the  province, 
but  simply  to  keep  the  royal  government  informed  thereof, 
and  secure  the  allegiance  of  the  provincial  authorities  and 
people.  Latterly,  however,  instructions  from  the  king's 
ministers,  as  well  as  from  the  Proprietaries,  had  been 
sent  out,  prohibiting  a  certain  class  of  laws  from  taking 
effect,  if  passed,  until  after  they  had  received  the  sanc 
tion  of  his  majesty  in  council.  This  prohibition  was 
aimed  particularly  against  the  enactment  of  laws  author 
izing  the  creation  of  bills  of  credit  to  be  used  in  the  prov 
ince  as  a  circulating  medium  ;  and  it  was  felt  to  be  a 
serious  injury  to  the  business  of  the  people,  as  well  as  a 
plain  encroachment  upon  their  chartered  rights ;  for  this 
paper  currency,  in  the  very  great  scarcity  of  hard  money 
produced  by  the  nature  and  condition  of  the  commerce 


320  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

of  the  colonies  with  the  mother-country,  had  been  of  very 
great  benefit  to  all  branches  of  the  internal  trade  and  ag 
riculture  of  the  province,  and  its  credit  had  been  thor 
oughly  sustained  by  the  prudent  and  well-devised  means 
provided,  in  every  act  authorizing  the  issue  of  such  bills, 
for  redeeming  them. 

Such  was  the  nature  of  the  principal  grievances  of 
which  Pennsylvania  complained,  and  from  which  Frank 
lin  was  commissioned  on  behalf  of  the  province  to  apply 
for  relief.  The  most  prominent  among  them,  at  the  pe 
riod  in  question,  was  that  which  grew  out  of  the  instruc 
tions  given  by  the  Proprietaries  to  their  governors  re 
specting  taxation,  and  which,  in  the  exigencies  produced 
by  war,  was  well  fitted  to  exasperate  the  public  mind. 
Franklin  was  accordingly  directed  to  present  himself,  in 
the  first  instance,  to  the  Proprietaries,  and  endeavor  by 
personal  conference  to  induce  them  to  relinquish  their 
claims  to  the  exemption  of  their  provincial  estates  from 
taxation,  and  abandon  the  policy  which  had  occasioned 
so  much  controversy,  had  so  much  obstructed  the  proper 
administration  of  public  affairs,  and  rendered  themselves 
and  their  government  so  odious.  To  this  end  he  carried 
with  him  a  formal  remonstrance  from  the  Assembly;  and 
in  case  they  should  persist  in  repelling  the  claims  thus 
urged  upon  them,  then  a  petition,  with  which  he  was  also 
furnished  by  the  Assembly  on  behalf  of  the  province,  was 
to  be  laid  before  the  king  in  council,  asking  for  relief  of 
a  broader  kind,  covering  the  whole  list  of  grievances, 
and  extending  to  a  thorough  reform  of  the  provincial 
government,  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  and  spirit 
of  the  original  charter  and  with  the  recognised  and  true 
principles  of  the  British  constitution. 

Falmouth,  as  we  have  seen,  was  the  port  at  which 
Franklin  reached  England,  and  he  proceeded  thence  by 
land  to  London,  where  he  arrived  on  the  evening  of  July 


ARRIVAL    IN    LONDON SICKNESS.  321 

26,  1757.  At  the  invitation  of  bis  friend  Collinson  he 
went  in  the  first  instance  to  the  house  of  that  gentleman, 
where  he  was  hospitably  entertained  till  he  could  procure 
suitable  permanent  lodgings.  Such  lodgings  he  shortly 
after  found  at  the  house  of  Mrs.  Stevenson,  No.  7  Craven 
street ;  and  they  proved  so  convenient,  comfortable,  and 
every  way  pleasant,  that  he  made  his  home  there  during 
all  his  long  subsequent  residence  in  London,  embracing, 
in  the  two  missions  on  which  he  was  sent  thither,  about 
fifteen  years.  That  house,  says  Dr.  Sparks,  is  noted  to 
this  day,  in  the  London  guide-books,  as  "  the  house  in 
which  Franklin  resided." 

Not  long  after  his  arrival  in  London,  however,  he  was 
seized  with  intermittent  fever,  brought  on  by  a  violent 
cold.  It  appears  from  a  letter  to  his  wife,  dated  the  22d 
of  November,  1757,  that  at  the  beginning  of  the  prece 
ding  September  he  had,  as  he  thought,  nearly  recovered  ; 
but  on  going  out  again,  perhaps  imprudently,  he  had 
taken  another  cold,  upon  which  the  fever  returned  with 
increased  violence,  accompanied  by  fits  of  pain  in  his 
head,  continuing  "  seldom  less  than  twelve  hours,  and 
once  thirty-six,"  of  such  extreme  severity  as  to  produce 
at  times  delirium  ;  and  when  they  went  off,  leaving  the 
top  of  the  head  "  very  sore  and  tender."  He  was  most 
assiduously  and  kindly  nursed  by  the  family  with  which 
he  had  become  domesticated,  and  he  received  from  his 
physician,  the  celebrated  Dr.  Fothergill,  (a  Quaker,  and 
in  later  years  a  zealous  advocate  of  conciliation  with  the 
American  colonies,)  all  the  attention  and  aid  that  medi 
cal  skill,  rendered  vigilant  by  the  warmest  friendship, 
could  bestow.  The  disease,  after  about  eight  weeks, 
went  off  with  a  fit  of  spontaneous  vomiting  and  diarrhoea  ; 
and  as  some  of  the  circumstances  connected  in  this  case 
with  the  termination  of  this  most  distressing  malady  are 
somewhat  strongly  marked,  it  may  be  useful  to  state  them, 


822  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

on  the  authority  of  the  patient  himself,  a  little  more  par 
ticularly.  That  great  remedy,  the  Peruvian  bark,  in 
those  days,  when  chemistry  had  not  yet  presented  its 
virtues  in  a  better  form,  was  administered  both  "  in  sub 
stance  and  infusion;"  and  Franklin  had  taken  so  much 
of  it,  that  he  "  began  to  abhor  it."  Notwithstanding  the 
condition  of  his  stomach,  from  which  this  abhorrence  of 
the  bark  proceeded,  he  "  dared  not  take  a  vomit  for  fear 
of  his  head."  Nature,  it  seems,  however,  had  no  such 
fear:  for  he  was  taken  one  morning  with  a  fit  of  sponta 
neous  and  thorough  vomiting,  followed  immediately  by  a 
diarrhoea,  recurring  at  short  intervals  during  the  greater 
part  of  the  day.  The  effect  was  decisive.  He  consid 
ered  it,  to  use  his  own  words,  "  a  kind  of  crisis  to  the 
distemper,  carrying  it  clear  off ;  for  ever  since  I  feel 
quite  lightsome,  and  am  every  day  gathering  strength. 
So  I  hope  my  seasoning  is  over,  and  that  I  shall  enjoy 
better  health  during  the  rest  of  my  stay  in  England." 

Notwithstanding  the  prejudices  Franklin  had  to  en 
counter  in  the  outset  of  his  career  in  philosophy,  his  rep 
utation  had  long  stood  high  in  England,  and  still  higher 
on  the  continent,  where  the  value  of  his  philosophical 
researches  had  been  at  once  acknowledged  ;  and  the  at 
tentions  he  received  from  men  of  science  and  other  emi 
nent  individuals,  both  personally  and  by  correspondence, 
served  to  relieve  even  the  tedious  weeks  of  sickness  and 
convalescence ;  and  when  he  regained  his  usual  health, 
his  intercourse  with  people  of  this  class  constituted  his 
chief  gratification,  and  added  greatly  to  the  esteem  with 
which  he  was  personally  regarded. 

Attractive  as  this  intercourse  was  to  him,  however,  as 
soon  as  his  recovery  was  sufficiently  confirmed  to  enable 
him  prudently  to  engage  in  business,  he  lost  no  time 
in  waiting  upon  the  Proprietaries,  Thomas  and  Richard 
Perm,  and  laying  before  them  the  objects  of  his  mission. 


MISREPRESENTATIONS  CORRECTED.         323 

The  manner  in  which  they  received  him,  and  the  perti 
nacity  with  which  they  insisted  on  their  claim  to  interpret 
their  powers  in  their  own  way,  without  reference  to  the 
views  of  his  constituents,  soon  convinced  Franklin  that 
no  just  arrangement  of  the  controversy  could  be  effected 
with  them,  and  that  he  should  not  only  be  constrained  to 
invoke  the  interposition  of  a  higher  authority,  but  that  in 
making  this  appeal  he  would  have  to  encounter  the  most 
strenuous  opposition  from  the  Penns,  and  be  obstructed 
by  every  impediment  they  could  place  in  his  way  ;  to  say 
nothing  of  the  prejudices  of  the  king  and  his  ministers 
in  behalf  of  executive  prerogative  in  every  form,  and 
their  habitual  jealousy  of  colonial  privileges  and  all  claims 
grounded  upon  them. 

This  latter  prejudice  had  been  brought  to  bear  upon 
Pennsylvania  with  peculiar  weight,  by  the  intrigues  and 
misrepresentations  of  the  Proprietaries.  They  had  been 
so  uncandid  and  dishonest  as  to  represent  that  those  dif 
ficulties  in  the  way  of  raising  supplies  for  the  public  ser 
vice  in  that  province,  which  their  own  instructions  to 
their  governors  had  occasioned,  had  arisen  solely  from  a 
factious  and  aggressive  spirit  on  the  part  of  the  people 
and  their  representatives,  who,  it  was  urged,  only  made 
their  unwarrantable  complaints  against  the  Proprietaries 
a  pretext  to  cover  their  disloyalty  to  the  crown.  The 
public  journals,  moreover,  were  used  to  disseminate  these 
misrepresentations  ;  and  such  was  the  effect  they  had 
produced  on  public  sentiment  in  England,  that  Franklin 
deemed  it  necessary  to  expose  them  through  the  same 
channels.  This  he  did  in  a  very  able  letter,  under  the 
signature  of  his  son,  (whom  he  had  taken  to  England 
with  him,)  addressed  to  the  publisher  of  the  paper  in 
which  the  grossest  and  most  abusive  of  the  misrepresen 
tations  had  appeared ;  though  it  should  be  mentioned,  as 
a  further  proof  of  the  malice  and  falsehood  of  his  adver- 


324:  LIFE    OF     BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

saries,  for  the  insertion  of  the  letter  he  was  compelled 
to  pay. 

The  charges,  which  exhausted  the  patience  of  Frank 
lin,  and  called  forth  this  communication,  were  professedly 
grounded  on  letters  from  Philadelphia,  stating  that,  while 
the  Indians  were  desolating  the  back  settlements  of  the 
province,  the  Assembly,  and  especially  the  Quakers,  were 
engaged  in  factious  quarrels  with  the  governor,  and  would 
grant  no  supplies  for  defence,  unless  by  such  bills  as  the 
governor  could  not  approve  without  sacrificing  the  rights 
of  the  Proprietaries  and  violating  his  allegiance  to  their 
common  sovereign.  Franklin's  reply  thoroughly  exposed 
these  calumnies.  He  showed  what  had  been  done  for 
the  protection  of  the  frontier,  in  building  forts  and  raising 
troops  ;  that  the  settlers  were  themselves  also  abundantly 
supplied  with  arms  and  ammunition,  which  they  well 
knew  how  to  use;  that  the  Assembly,  since  the  com 
mencement  of  the  very  war  then  waging,  had  raised  more 
than  one  hundred  thousand  pounds  for  military  purposes, 
besides  the  large  sums  required  for  the  support  of  the 
provincial  government  and  other  civil  objects  ;  that  an 
armed  ship  had  been  employed  at  the  expense  of  the 
province  as  a  cruiser  on  the  coast ;  that  the  Quakers, 
though  non-combatants  from  religious  scruples,  consti 
tuted  only  a  small  portion  of  the  whole  people,  and  that, 
so  far  from  combining  to  resist  the  acts  of  the  Assembly 
for  the  common  defence,  they  had  in  various  instances 
resigned  their  seats  in  that  body  and  kept  aloof  from 
public  affairs  on  account  of  their  principles  ;  and  finally, 
that  all  the  real  obstacles  to  the  vigorous  and  successful 
management  of  the  public  concerns  of  the  province,  and 
to  the  security  and  welfare  of  the  people  or  any  portion 
of  them,  were  in  truth  created  by  the  unjust,  arbitrary, 
and  unconstitutional  instructions,  with  which  the  Propri 
etaries  trammelled  their  governors. 


DELAYS,  325 

The  statements  of  this  able  and  honest  document  were 
so  full  and  clear,  showed  so  perfect  a  knowledge  and 
mastery  of  the  subject,  drew  the  attention  of  leading  men 
so  effectually  to  the  whole  case,  and  made  so  strong  an 
impression,  that  no  public  reply  to  it  was  attempted. 
The  Proprietaries,  nevertheless,  continued  obstinate  and 
unyielding.  The  remonstrance  from  the  Assembly  re 
mained  unanswered,  frivolous  pretexts  for  delay  were 
invented;  and  at  the  end  of  twelve  months,  nothing  hav 
ing  been  accomplished,  Franklin  set  about  taking  the 
necessary  steps  to  bring  the  matter  before  the  privy 
council.  To  do  this,  however,  much  time  was  required, 
as  the  case,  in  the  first  instance,  had  to  go  for  a  hearing 
before  the  board  of  trade,  and  having  there  been  argued 
by  counsel  on  both  sides,  would  be  sent  up,  in  the  form 
of  a  report,  with  the  opinion  of  that  body  upon  it,  to  the 
council.  If  no  relief  should  be  obtained  in  that  way, 
Parliament  was  then  to  be  petitioned  for  redress. 

In  this  state  of  things,  all  that  Franklin  could  do  was 
to  put  the  counsel,  who  were  to  argue  the  cause  on  the 
part  of  the  province  before  the  board  of  trade,  in  full 
possession  of  the  facts  and  papers  belonging  to  the  case, 
together  with  such  views  and  instructions  as  he  deemed 
proper ;  and  having  done  so,  as  there  was  every  likeli 
hood  that  more  than  sufficient  time  for  preparation  would 
elapse  before  the  hearing  could  be  had,  he  availed  him 
self  of  the  opportunity  thus  forced  upon  l^n  by  the  de 
lay  of  his  business,  to  extend  his  acquaintance  with  men 
of  worth  and  distinction,  to  visit  interesting  places,  and 
to  see  such  objects  as  were  worth  a  visit  and  within  his 
reach.  In  writing  to  his  wife  on  the  21st  of  January, 
1758,  he  tells  her  that  he  is  likely  to  be  detained  a  full 
year  longer,  in  order  to  accomplish  his  business  effectu 
ally  ;  and  he  then  adds  :  "  You  may  think,  perhaps,  that 
I  can  find  many  amusements  here  to  pass  the  time  agree- 
28 


3^6  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

ably.  It  is  true  the  regard  and  friendship  I  meet  with 
from  persons  of  worth,  and  the  conversation  of  ingenious 
men,  give  me  no  small  pleasure  ;  but  at  this  time  of  life, 
domestic  comforts  afford  the  most  solid  satisfaction,  and 
my  uneasiness  at  being  absent  from  my  family,  and  my 
longing  desire  to  be  with  them,  make  me  often  sigh  in 
the  midst  of  cheerful  company." 

Among  the  labors  performed  by  Franklin  himself,  or 
with  the  assistance  of  others  through  his  procurement 
and  instructions,  and  designed  to  aid  the  cause  of  the 
province,  not  merely  before  the  board  of  trade  and  the 
privy  council,  but  also  in  the  larger  view  in  which  it  was 
to  be  presented  to  Parliament,  should  that  last  resort  be 
come  necessary,  was  the  preparation  of  an  elaborate  work 
entitled  "An  Historical  Review  of  the  Constitution  and 
Government  of  Pennsylvania."  This  performance,  ex 
tending  through  four  hundred  and  fifteen  octavo  pages,  is 
grounded  on  the  original  charter  from  the  king ;  the  frame 
of  government  prepared  by  William  Penn  pursuant  to 
that  charter,  and  under  which  the  settlement  of  the  new 
colony  commenced  ;  certain  fundamental  laws  accompa 
nying  that  frame  of  government,  and  intended  to  define 
its  powers  and  the  rights  and  duties  of  the  colonists 
more  in  detail ;  the  modifications  of  the  government 
during  the  life  of  Penn  ;  the  more  important  acts  of 
the  Assembly  and  the  Proprietaries  or  their  governors 
after  the  deg^h  of  the  founder;  and  public  documents, 
votes,  and  proceedings  of  the  Assembly,  down  to  the 
time  of  Franklin's  mission. 

In  those  days,  the  department  of  the  British  govern 
ment,  now  in  charge  of  the  colonial  secretary,  was  man 
aged  by  the  board  of  trade  ;  and  the  work  just  mentioned 
seems  to  have  grown,  at  least  in  part,  out  of  some  sug 
gestions  made  to  Franklin  by  Robert  Charles,  an  able 
lawyer,  long  resident  in  London  as  the  general  agent  of 


HISTORY    OF    PENNSYLVANIA.  327 

Pennsylvania,  and  well  informed  of  the  sentiments  of  the 
British  ministry  and  the  state  of  public  opinion  in  rela 
tion  to  the  colonies  ;  for  Franklin,  in  a  letter  dated  the 
10th  of  June,  1758,  to  Isaac  Norris,  speaker  of  the  As 
sembly,  referring  to  Mr.  Charles,  writes  as  follows  :  "  One 
thing  that  he  recommends  to  be  done  before  we  push  our 
point  in  Parliament,  is  to  remove  the  prejudices  that  art 
and  accident  have  spread  among  the  people  of  this  coun 
try  against  us,  and  to  obtain  for  us  the  good  opinion  of 
mankind  out  of  doors.  This  I  hope  we  have  it  in  our 
power  to  do,  by  means  of  a  work,  now  nearly  ready  for 
the  press,  calculated  to  engage  the  attention  of  many 
readers,  and  efface  the  bad  impressions  received  of  us ; 
but  it  is  thought  best  not  to  publish  it  till  a  little  before 
the  next  session  of  Parliament." 

The  work,  accordingly  was  prepared,  in  1758,  from 
materials  supplied  by  Franklin,  and  under  his  immediate 
direction  and  supervision,  but  was  not  published  till  early 
in  1759.  The  aim  of  this  performance,  the  materials  of 
which  it  was  composed  and  which  included  much  documen 
tary  matter  from  his  own  pen  while  in  the  Assembly,  and 
the  vigor  with  which  it  was  executed,  together  with  the 
circumstances  and  time  of  its  appearance,  were  all  such 
as  to  lead  the  public  very  naturally  to  assign  the  author 
ship  of  it  to  Franklin.  This  opinion,  too,  was  busily 
propagated  by  the  Proprietaries  and  their  dependents 
in  both  England  and  Pennsylvania  ;  for  he  was  the  great 
champion  of  the  popular  cause,  and  they  hoped  to  weaken 
that  cause  by  directing  against  him  the  whole  weight  of 
prevailing  prejudices,  especially  among  leading  men  in 
England.  Franklin,  however,  was  not  the  author,  in  the 
usual  acceptation  of  the  term.  This  fact  is  expressly 
declared  in  a  letter  dated  the  27th  of  September,  1760, 
to  David  Hume,  in  which  he  writes  as  follows  :  "  I  am 
obliged  to  you  for  the  favorable  sentiments  you  express 


328  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

of  the  pieces  sent  to  you;  though  the  volume  relating  to 
Pennsylvania  affairs  was  not  written  by  me,  nor  any  part 
of  it,  except  the  remarks  on  the  Proprietary's  estimate  of 
his  estate,  and  some  of  the  inserted  messages  and  reports 
of  the  Assembly,  which  I  wrote  when  at  home,  as  a 
member  of  committees  appointed  by  the  house  for  that 
service.  The  rest  was  by  another  hand." 

The  person  to  whom  Franklin  refers,  is  supposed  by 
many  to  have  been  his  old  acquaintance,  James  Ralph, 
whom  he  had  again  met  in  London,  very  much  improved 
in  condition,  and  who,  having  early  relinquished  his 
pursuit  of  poetry  for  history,  and  politics,  had  become 
a  writer  of  considerable  eminence,  and  was  from  the  cir 
cumstances  of  their  early  connection  as  well  as  his  occu 
pation  at  the  time  in  question,  very  likely  to  have  been 
the  person  referred  to.  ^ 

Having  thus  taken  all  the  preliminary  steps  in  his  pow 
er  to  prepare  the  cause  of  the  province,  for  the  hearing 
before  the  board  of  trade,  as  there  was  every  likelihood 
that  even  more  than  sufficient  time  for  that  preparation 
would  elapse,  before  the  hearing  could  be  had,  he  availed 
himself  of  the  opportunity  thus  forced  upo  n  him,  by  del  ays 
which  he  could  not  prevent,  to  extend  his  acquaintance 
with  distinguished  men,  who  courted  his  society,  and  to 
visit  such  places  of  interest  and  objects  worth  seeing  as 
were  within  his  reach.  Much  of  the  summer  of  1758, 
therefore,  he  passed  in  making  excursions  in  different 
directions  in  England,  accompanied  by  his  son.  In  May 
he  went  to  Cambridge,  some  forty  to  fifty  miles  north  of 
London,  and  the  seat  of  one  of  the  two  great  English 
universities.  Referring  to  this  visit  in  a  letter  to  his  wife, 
dated  June  10, 1758,  he  says  :  "  We  stayed  there  a  week, 
being  entertained  with  great  kindness  by  the  principal 
people,  and  shown  all  the  curiosities  of  the  place  ;  and 
returning  by  another  road  to  see  more  of  the  country, 


FAMILY    CONNECTIONS.  329 

we  came  again  to  London."  He  found  this  jaunt  ben 
eficial  to  his  "  he'alth  and  spirits,"  and  on  returning  to 
London,  finding  that  "all  the  great  folks  were  out  of 
town,  and  public  business  at  a  stand,"  he  determined  to 
avail  himself  of  the  invitation  he  had  received  while  at 
Cambridge,  to  attend  the  annual  commencement  at  that 
university,  which  was  to  take  place  early  in  July.  "  We 
went  accordingly,"  says  he,  in  the  letter  just  cited,  "were 
present  at  all  the  ceremonies,  dined  every  day  in  their 
halls,  and  my  vanity  was  not  a  little  gratified  by  the  par 
ticular  regard  shown  me  by  the  chancellor  and  vice-chan 
cellor  of  the  university,  and  by  the  heads  of  the  colleges." 
When  the  commencement  was  over,  instead  of  return 
ing  to  London,  he  went  into  Northamptonshire  taking 
his  son  with  him,  to  look  up  his  family  connections.  In 
Wellingborough  he  found  an  aged  cousin,  "  daughter 
and  only  child  of  Thomas  Franklin,"  his  father's  eldest 
brother.  She  was  five  years  older  than  his  father's  oldest 
child,  Elizabeth,  (Mrs.  Dowse,)  being  therefore,  in  1758, 
eighty-six  years  old,  but  she  well  recollected  her  and  her 
father's  removal  with  his  family,  then  consisting  of  his 
first  wife  and  three  children,  to  Boston,  in  1685.  "  I 
knew  she  lived  at  Wellingborough,"  says  Franklin  to 
his  wife,  "  and  had  married  there  to  one  Richard  Fisher, 
a  grazier  and  tanner,  about  fifty  years  before,  but  hav 
ing  had  no  correspondence  with  her  for  about  thirty 
years,  did  not  expect  to  see  either  of  them  alive,  and  so 
inquired  for  their  posterity."  He  was,  however,  direct 
ed  to  their  house,  where  he  found  both  the  husband  and 
wife  very  infirm  from  their  great  age,  but  very  glad  to 
see  their  American  cousins.  They  had  a  competent  es 
tate  and  lived  in  comfort.  Their  only  child,  a  daughter 
and  never  married,  had  died  at  the  age  of  thirty  years. 
Mrs.  Fisher  gave  Franklin  some  of  his  uncle  Benjamin's 
letters,  and  much  information  respecting  the  other 
28* 


330  LIFE    OF    HENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

brancnes  of  the  Franklin  family.  One  of  these  lie  after 
ward  found  in  London.  She  was  the  "  daughter  of  his 
father's  only  sister,  very  old  and  never  married,"  but  a 
kind  and  good  woman,  and  though  poor,  very  cheerful 
and  contented. 

Franklin  next  went  to  Ecton,  about  four  miles  from 
Wellingborough,  and  the  place  where  his  father  was 
born,  and  where  his  ancestors  had  resided  from  time  im 
memorial.  The  first  object  of  his  search  was  the  old 
homestead.  It  passed  to  Mr.  Fisher  with  his  wife,  but 
he  had  sold  the  property.  The  land  had  been  united  to 
another  farm ;  and  in  the  old  stone  house,  still  called 
"the  Franklin  house,"  a  school  was  kept.  He  also  vis 
ited  the  rector  of  the  parish,  who  received  him  kindly, 
and  showed  him  the  old  registers  of  the  church,  where 
he  saw  the  records  of  the  births,  marriages,  and  deaths 
of  his  ancestors,  back  to  the  commencement  of  the  regis 
ter,  two  hundred  years  before.  The  graveyard,  too, 
contained  many  memorials  of  the  family,  some  of  which 
were  "  so  covered  with  moss  that  we  could  not  read  the 
letters,  till  a  hard  brush  and  a  basin  of  water  were 
brought,  with  which  they  were  cleaned,  and  his  son 
copied  them."  The  rector's  wife,  "  a  good-natured, 
chatty  old  lady,"  told  him  various  anecdotes  of  his  uncle, 
Thomas  Franklin,  (the  father  of  Mrs.  Fisher,)  who  was 
"  a  conveyancer,  clerk  of  the  county  courts,  and  clerk  of 
the  archdeacon  to  whose  jurisdiction  the  parish  belonged ; 
a  very  leading  man  in  all  county  affairs,  and  much  em 
ployed  in  public  business."  It  was  through  the  enter 
prise  of  this  active  and  public-spirited  man  that  the 
village-church  was  furnished,  by  a  subscription  set  on 
foot  by  him,  with  a  chime  of  bells,  and  his  relatives  from 
across  the  Atlantic  now  had  the  gratification  of  hearing 
them  play.  He  had  also  devised  a  method  of  protecting 
the  meadows  about  Ecton  from  the  injury  they  had  often 


HIS    UNCLE    THOMAS.  331 

suffered  from  the  freshets  of  the  river  which  runs  through 
the  village  ;  a  method  still  in  use  at  the  time  of  this  visit. 
The  method  is  not  described;  but  when  first  proposed, 
said  the  rector's  wife,  though  the  villagers  could  not 
conceive  how  it  could  answer  the  purpose,  yet  they 
agreed  that,  "  if  Franklin  says  he  knows  how  to  do  it, 
it  will  be  done."  In  short,  it  appears  that  Thomas 
Franklin's  counsel  was  sought  in  relation  to  most  local 
matters,  whether  public  or  private,  if  they  presented  any 
difficulty,  and  "  he  was  looked  upon  by  some,"  said  the 
narrator,  "as  something  of  a  conjurer;"  and  even  cabi 
net-ministers  did  not  disdain  to  weigh  his  opinions  some 
times  in  respect  to  points  of  domestic  policy.  This 
Thomas  Franklin,  whose  character  seems  to  have  pre 
sented  not  a  few  traits  of  resemblance  to  that  of  his 
illustrious  kinsman,  died  exactly  four  years,  to  a  day, 
before  that  kinsman  was  born.  So  strong  was  the  re 
semblance  of  character  just  mentioned,  that  Franklin,  in 
the  introductory  part  of  his  autobiography,  quotes  a  re 
mark  of  his  son,  who,  upon  listening  to  this  account  of 
Thomas,  said  to  his  father,  "  Had  he  died  four  years 
later,  on  the  same  day,  one  might  have  supposed  a  trans 
migration." 

In  a  letter  to  his  favorite  sister,  Mrs.  Jane  Mecom, 
written  a  few  days  after  the  one  to  his  wife,  from  which 
the  preceding  incidents  are  derived,  Franklin  refers  again 
to  his  visit  among  his  kinsfolk  in  England,  and  speaks 
particularly  of  a  cousin  Jane,  one  of  his  uncle  John 
Franklin's  daughters,  who  had  been  wife  to  Robert 
Page,  but  had  died  the  year  before.  Mr.  Page,  how 
ever,  was  living,  and  had  in  his  possession  a  number  of 
letters  to  his  wife  from  her  uncle  Benjamin,  between 
whom  and  his  brother  Josiah,  Franklin's  father,  there 
was  an  unusually  strong  attachment,  and  who,  following 
that  brother  to  America,  had  lived  for  some  years  in  his 


332  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

family.  Those  letters  were  given  to  Franklin.  In  one 
of  them,  dated  at  Boston,  July  4,  1723,  the  writer,  refer 
ring  to  Mrs.  Mecom,  then  a  little  girl,  says  that  his 
brother  Josiah  had  also  a  Jane,  "a  good-humored  child;" 
and  Franklin,  after  playfully  enjoining  it  upon  his  sister 
to  "  keep  up  to  her  character,"  goes  on  to  speak  of  some 
advice  from  his  uncle  Benjamin,  who  was  a  man  of  sin 
cere  piety,  to  his  niece  Jane  in  England.  The  advice 
accompanied  a  religious  book  he  sent  her,  and  was  in 
the  form  of  an  acrostic  upon  her  name,  Jane  Franklin. 
It  was,  in  substance,  an  exhortation  to  cultivate  the 
Christian  graces  of  faith,  hope,  and  charity,  which  were 
typified,  in  the  quaint  manner  of  those  days,  under  the 
figure  of  a  house  of  three  stories.  Franklin  copies  the 
acrostic  for  his  sister,  "  for  namesake's  sake,  as  well  as 
the  good  advice  it  contains,"  and  then  appends  to  it  a 
very  characteristic  comment,  from  which  the  following 
passages  are  taken  : — 

"After  professing  truly,"  says  Franklin,  "  that  I  had  a 
great  esteem  and  veneration  for  the  pious  author,  permit 
me  a  little  to  play  the  commentator.  The  meaning  of 
the  three  stories  seems  somewhat  obscure.  You  are  to 
understand,  then,  that  faith,  hope,  and  charity,  have  been 
called  the  three  steps  of  Jacob's  ladder,  reaching  from 
earth  to  heaven.  Our  author  calls  them  stories,  likening 
religion  to  a  building,  and  these  are  the  three  stories  of 
the  Christian  edifice.  Thus,  improvement  in  religion  is 
called  building  up,  and  edification.  Faith  is,  then,  the 
ground-floor,  and  hope  is  up  one  pair  of  stairs.  My  dearly 
beloved  Jenny,  do  not  delight  to  dwell  too  much  in  those 
lower  rooms,  but  get  as  fast  as  you  can  into  the  third 
story,  for  in  truth  the  best  room  in  the  house  is  charity" 
Again  :  the  author  had  written,  very  likely  from  the 
scantiness  of  his  poetical  vocabulary,  "  Kindness  of  heart 
by  words  express"  —  on  which  the  comment  runs  thus: 


LETTERS  AND  SENTIMENTS.  333 

"  Strike  out  words  and  put  in  deeds.  The  world  is  too 
full  of  compliments  already.  They  are  the  rank  growth 
of  every  soil,  and  choke  the  good  plants  of  benevolence 
and  beneficence ;  nor  do  I  pretend  to  be  the  first  in  this 
comparison  of  words  and  actions  to  plants.  You  may 
remember  an  antient  poet,  whose  works  we  have  all 
studied  and  copied  at  school  long  ago  — 

'A  man  of  words  and  not  of  deeds, 
Is  like  a  garden  full  of  weeds.'  " 

In  the  conclusion  of  this  playful  and  yet  earnest  and 
affectionate  letter,  he  does  not  forget  his  aged  half-sister, 
Mrs.  Dowse,  but  requests  that  Mrs.  Mecom  would  read 
to  her  the  account  of  their  connections  in  England,  which 
would  be  sent  to  her  by  his  wife  for  their  gratification. 

In  making  these  inquiries  concerning  his  kindred,  and 
tracing  these  various  currents  of  consanguinity,  however 
obscurely  they  might  be  flowing  along  the  humbler  or 
more  retired  ways  of  life,  Franklin  was  gratifying  one 
of  the  strongest  propensities  of  his  kindly  nature;  one 
which  pervaded  his  whole  being;  which  not  only  consti 
tuted  an  essential  ingredient  of  his  own  happiness,  but 
rendered  him  peculiarly  dear  to  his  familiar  friends ; 
which,  in  its  various  manifestations  and  wider  influences 
as  a  social  principle,  led  him  to  regard  nothing  human 
as  alien  to  his  heart,  and  without  which,  human  life  can 
be  little  better  than  a  dreary  and  cheerless  waste  ;  which 
spread  over  his  manners  and  general  deportment  so  at 
tractive  a  charm,  that,  wherever  he  mingled  in  society, 
or  engaged  in  correspondence  and  personal  intercourse 
of  any  kind,  even  with  the  most  eminent,  whether  in  birth 
and  station,  or  in  the  pursuits  of  science,  added  to  the 
respect  and  deference  he  commanded  for  his  abilities 
and  acquii'ements  as  a  philosopher  and  a  sage,  the 
warmer  sentiment  of  esteem  and  friendship  for  him  as 
a  companion  and  a  man. 


334  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

Besides  his  excursions  to  different  parts  of  England, 
Franklin,  during  the  delay  of  the  business  of  his  mission, 
gave  some  portion  of  his  time  to  his  favorite  electrical 
inquiries ;  and  he  paid,  also,  not  a  little  attention  to  the 
leading  political  questions  of  the  day  and  the  policy  of 
the  government.  The  war  with  France  was  not  only  still 
going  on,  but  was  waged  with  greater  vigor  than  ever, 
under  the  active  administration  of  Pitt  the  elder,  that 
great  minister  applying  to  its  prosecution  everywhere, 
by  land  and  sea,  in  Europe,  India,  and  America,  the 
whole  resources  of  the  empire,  with  all  the  energy  of  his 
character,  and  with  a  success  corresponding  to  the  power 
of  mind  and  of  military  force  brought  to  bear  upon  it. 
The  deep  interest  of  the  British  colonies  in  continental 
America,  in  the  results  of  the  war,  was  the  topic  which 
chiefly  engaged  Franklin's  thoughts,  and  he  was  partic 
ularly  solicitous  that  the  government  should  turn  its  best 
efforts  to  the  conquest  of  Canada.  He  regarded  that 
conquest  as  the  blow  which,  of  all  others,  would  not  only 
be  most  deeply  and  permanently  felt  by  France,  but 
especially,  also,  as  the  most  expedient,  not  to  say  the 
only  way,  in  which  the  safety,  peace,  growth,  and  lasting 
prosperity  of  the  North  American  colonies  of  Great  Brit 
ain  could  be  secured.  With  a  powerful  enemy,  like 
France,  continually  pressing  on  the  frontiers  of  the  col 
onies,  commanding  the  great  channels  of  internal  trade 
on  the  lakes  and  rivers,  and  controlling  the  sentiments 
and  the  power  of  most  of  the  Indian  tribes,  the  colonial 
settlements  could  not,  except  by  very  slow  degrees,  be 
extended  westward  much  beyond  their  then  existing 
bounds,  but  would  be  kept  perpetually  in  a  state  of 
alarm  and  insecurity  inconsistent  with  their  prosperity. 
They  would  thus  not  only  be  far  less  valuable  to  the 
mother-country,  but  would  also  make  it  necessary  to  ex 
pend  more  upon  the  means  of  protecting  them,  than  the 


MR.   PITT    AND    CANADA.  335 

conquest  of  the  enemy,  on  that  side,  would  cost,  and 
which,  when  once  accomplished,  would  remove  both 
sources  of  expenditure,  and  leave  the  colonies  perfectly 
competent  to  protect  themselves,  to  secure  the  friend 
ship  of  the  Indians,  and  enjoy  exclusively  the  advantages 
of  an  extensive  and  profitable  trade  with  the  tribes;  and 
by  opening  a  clear  field  for  the  enterprise  of  the  inhab 
itants,  contribute  largely  to  their  own  prosperity,  and, 
through  that,  to  the  commerce  of  Great  Britain. 

To  promote  his  views  on  this  point,  Franklin  not  only 
made  it  the  topic  of  conversation,  in  his  general  inter 
course  with  society,  whenever  an  opportunity  presented 
itself,  but  he  sought,  for  some  time,  to  obtain  a  personal 
interview  with  the  great  premier,  in  the  hope  of  impres 
sing  his  mind  with  the  importance  of  the  proposed  policy 
so  thoroughly  as  to  induce  him  to  adopt  and  carry  it  into 
effect  with  his  characteristic  promptitude  and  energy. 
Though  he  did  not  succeed,  at  that  time,  in  obtaining 
the  desired  conference  with  Mr.  Pitt,  yet  his  efforts  to 
that  end  were  not  wholly  fruitless,  inasmuch  as  they 
brought  him  into  personal  intercourse  with  the  minister's 
under-secretaries,  through  whom  his  views,  with  more 
or  less  fullness  and  force,  reached  the  minister  himself. 

In  the  very  interesting  paper  addressed  to  his  son  in 
1775,  giving  an  account  of  a  series  of  interviews  and 
correspondence  between  himself,  the  earl  of  Chatham, 
Lord  Howe,  David  Barclay,  and  others,  held  in  1774,  in 
the  hope  of  falling  upon  some  mode  of  effecting  a  recon 
ciliation  with  the  colonies,  Franklin,  referring  to  the 
abovementioned  topic,  and  the  failure  of  his  endeavors 
to  obtain  an  interview  with  Mr.  Pitt,  makes  the  following 
remarks  :  "  I  was  obliged  to  content  myself  with  a  kind 
of  non-apparent  and  unacknowledged  communication 
through  Mr.  Potter  and  Mr.  Wood,  his  secretaries,  who 
seemed  to  cultivate  an  acquaintance  with  me  by  their 


330  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

civilities,  and  drew  from  me  what  information  I  could 
give  relative  to  the  American  war,  [that  is,  the  bearing 
of  the  war  with  France  on  the  American  colonies,  and 
British  interests  as  connected  therewith,]  with  my  senti 
ments  on  measures  that  were  proposed  or  advised  by 
others,  which  gave  me  the  opportunity  of  recommending 
and  enforcing  the  utility  of  conquering  Canada." 

The  policy  of  fighting  France  on  the  side  of  Germany, 
which  had  been  so  much  favored  by  the  kings  of  the 
reigning  family,  themselves  of  German  origin,  Franklin 
objected  to,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  ineffectual  to  pro 
duce  any  lasting  advantages  to  Great  Britain,  even  if 
victorious,  or  any  real  and  permanent  diminution  of  the 
power  and  influence  of  France;  that  it  was  really  fight 
ing  the  battles  of  other  European  nations,  who  reaped 
all  the  benefits,  while  Britain  paid  the  cost ;  and  it  was 
a  policy  which  Pitt  himself  had  never  really  approved. 
The  harmony  of  their  views  on  this  point  may  well  be 
supposed  to  have  inclined  the  minister  to  Franklin's 
opinions  respecting  Canada,  and  the  importance  of  wrest 
ing  it  from  France,  as  the  most  effectual  if  not  the  only 
mode  in  which  her  power  could  be  materially  and  per 
manently  weakened,  to  the  real  benefit  of  his  own  coun 
try.  At  all  events,  Franklin's  views  respecting  the  con 
quest  of  Canada  were  adopted  ;  and  there  is  good  reason 
for  affirming,  that  the  expedition  of  Wolfe,  and  the  ac 
quisition  of  both  territory  and  renown,  which  it  brought 
to  the  British  empire  and  the  British  arms,  are  to  be 
ascribed  to  the  political  sagacity  of  Franklin. 

The  year  1759  passed  on  without  bringing  Franklin's 
provincial  mission  to  a  close,  though  the  historical  expo 
sition  of  the  affairs  of  Pennsylvania,  together  with  the 
conversation  and  character  of  Franklin,  and  other  means 
of  rectifying  opinions  in  high  places,  as  well  as  among 
reading  and  reflecting  men  generally,  were  producing 


VISIT    TO    SCOTLAND.  337 

their  legitimate  effect,  and  rendering  important  aid  to  his 
professional  counsel  in  preparing  his  cause  for  a  hearing. 
As  that  hearing,  however,  did  not  yet  come  on,  Franklin 
availed  himself  of  the  summer  of  that  year  to  visit  Scot 
land,  taking  his  son  with  him.  He  had,  in  the  preceding 
February,  received  from  the  university  of  St.  Andrew's 
the  honorary  degree  of  doctor  of  laws,  and  his  merits, 
not  only  in  physical  philosophy  and  in  politics,  but  as 
a  man  of  general  knowledge  and  an  elegant  and  forcible 
writer,  having  been  long  well  understood,  he  was  re 
ceived  with  cordial  respect  by  the  eminent  men  of  Scot 
land.  David  Hume,  Henry  Home,  (better  known  as 
Lord  Kames,)  and  Dr.  Robertson,  the  historian,  became 
his  warm  personal  friends,  as  his  subsequent  correspond 
ence  with  them  abundantly  testifies.  At  Edinburgh,  in 
September,  he  was  "admitted  a  burgess  and  guild- 
brother  of  that  city,"  says  the  city  record,  "  as  a  mark 
of  affectionate  respect  for  a  gentleman,  whose  amiable 
character,  greatly-distinguished  usefulness,  and  love  to 
all  mankind,  had  long  ago  reached  them  across  the  At 
lantic  ocean  ;"  and  in  October  the  freedom  of  the  city  of 
St.  Andrew's,  also,  was  conferred  upon  him. 

Of  all  the  great  men  whose  society  he  enjoyed  in 
Scotland,  the  warmest  personal  attachment  seems  to  have 
sprung  up  between  himself  and  Lord  Kames.  They 
were  congenial  spirits  ;  and  when,  after  spending  a 
number  of  delightful  days  at  his  lordship's  country-seat 
near  the  Tweed,  Franklin  left  Scotland  for  London,  his 
noble  friend  and  lady  accompanied  him  through  the  first 
stage  of  his  journey.  The  kind  and  degree  of  pleasure 
he  found  in  the  society  of  Lord  Kames  is  vividly  de 
scribed  in  a  letter  written  at  London,  on  the  3d  of  the 
succeeding  January,  1760.  After  expressing  the  regret 
of  himself  and  his  son  at  parting  with  him  and  Lady 
Kames  so  soon,  he  says:  "  Huw  much  more  agreeable 
29 


338  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

would  our  journey  have  been,  if  we  could  have  enjoyed 
you  as  far  as  York.  We  could  have  beguiled  the  way  by 
discoursing  on  a  thousand  things,  that  we  now  may  never 
have  an  opportunity  of  considering  together;  for  con 
versation  warms  the  mind,  enlivens  the  imagination,  and 
is  continually  starting  fresh  game  that  is  immediately 
pursued  and  taken,  and  which  would  never  have  oc 
curred  in  the  duller  intercourse  of  epistolary  correspond 
ence.  So  that  whenever  I  reflect  on  the  great  pleasure 
and  advantage  I  received  from  the  free  communication 
of  sentiment,  in  the  conversations  we  had  at  Kames,  and 
in  the  agreeable  little  rides  to  the  Tweed-side,  I  shall 
for  ever  regret  our  premature  parting." 

Of  the  gratification  he  found  in  the  whole  of  his  so 
journ  in  Scotland,  he  speaks,  in  the  same  letter,  as  fol 
lows  :  "  On  the  whole,  I  must  say  I  think  the  time  we 
spent  there  was  six  weeks  of  the  densest  happiness  I  have 
met  with  in  any  part  of  my  life  ;  and  the  agreeable  and 
instructive  society  we  found  there  in  such  plenty,  has 
left  so  pleasing  an  impression  on  my  memory,  that,  did 
not  strong  connections  draw  me  elsewhere,  I  believe 
Scotland  would  be  the  country  I  should  choose  to  spend 
the  remainder  of  my  days  in." 

One  of  Franklin's  most  intimate  personal  friends  in 
London,  was  Mr.  William  Strahan,  bred  a  printer,  who 
acquired  a  handsome  fortune  in  his  business,  and,  by  his 
talents,  intelligence,  and  probity,  became,  in  1775,  a 
member  of  Parliament.  He  had  long  taken  a  lively 
interest  in  the  affairs  of  the  American  colonies,  and  when 
the  controversies  and  estrangements  came  on  between 
those  colonies  and  the  mother-country,  he  took  an  active 
part  in  all  the  efforts  made  to  heal  difficulties  and  bring 
about  a  reconciliation.  Shortly  after  Franklin's  arrival 
in  London,  in  1757,  Mr.  Strahan  had,  with  Franklin's 
privity,  written  a  very  earnest  invitation  to  Mrs.  Frank- 


MR.  STRAHAN MISS  STEVENSON.         339 

lin  to  visit  London  with  her  daughter,  during  her  hus 
band's  stay  on  the  business  of  his  mission  ;  and  now,  in 
the  winter  of  1759-'60,  his  increased  regard  for  Franklin 
led  him  to  urge  the  latter  to  send  for  his  family  and  set 
tle  permanently  in  England.  Among  the  inducements 
to  this  step,  Mr.  Strahan  proposed  the  marriage  of  his 
son  with  Franklin's  daughter,  Sarah;  and  he  put  the 
proposal  in  writing,  together  with  the  various  consider 
ations  in  its  favor,  that  it  might,  if  his  friend  thought  fit, 
be  sent  to  Mrs.  Franklin  at  Philadelphia. 

From  Franklin's  letter  of  March  5,  1760,  to  his  wife, 
on  this  subject,  it  appears  that  Mr.  Strahan's  business 
enabled  him  "  to  lay  up  a  thousand  pounds  every  year," 
clear  of  family  expenses  and  all  other  charges  ;  that  his 
wife  was  "a  sensible  and  good  woman;"  the  children 
amiable  and  well  trained ;  and  "  the  young  man  sober, 
ingenious,  industrious,"  and  personally  agreeable.  Frank 
lin's  objections,  as  stated  in  conversation  with  his  friend, 
to  settling  in  England,  were  his  "  affection  to  Pennsyl 
vania  and  to  long-established  friendships  and  connec 
tions  there,  and  his  wife's  invincible  aversion  to  crossing 
the  seas;"  while,  without  the  removal  to  England,  he 
"  could  not  think  of  parting  with  his  daughter  to  such  a 
distance."  Thanking  his  friend  for  the  esteem  implied 
by  the  proposals,  but  not  promising  to  communicate  them, 
he  nevertheless  did  so,  leaving  his  wife  "  at  liberty  to 
answer  or  not ;"  requesting  for  himself,  however,  the 
knowledge  of  her  sentiments  on  the  subject. 

Among  the  friendships  Franklin  formed  in  England, 
at  the  period  in  question,  one  of  the  most  interesting  was 
that  with  Miss  Mary  Stevenson,  the  daughter  of  his  host 
ess  of  Craven  street.  Her  character  was  one  of  high 
moral  worth,  and  she  was  gifted  with  uncommon  mental 
abilities.  Upon  Franklin's  becoming  an  inmate  of  her 
mother's  family,  he  BOOH  perceived  her  various  merits, 


340  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

and  took  pleasure  in  aiding  and  directing  her  studies. 
In  the  spring  of  1760,  she  resided  for  some  time  with  a 
relative,  at  a  little  distance  from  London,  and  during 
that  separation  she  and  her  distinguished  friend  ex 
changed  several  letters,  relating  chiefly  to  her  course  of 
reading.  One  of  those  letters  contains  suggestions  on 
that  topic,  which  most  readers,  particularly  youthful 
ones,  would  find  it  advantageous  to  observe.  He  advises 
her  to  read  "  with  a  pen  in  hand,"  and  to  "  enter  in  a 
book,"  suitably  prepared  for  the  purpose,  ''short  hints," 
or  abstracts,  of  Whatever  she  might  find  striking,  whether 
"  curious  or  useful,"  as  the  best  method  of  fixing  them 
in  her  mind,  either  for  subsequent  use,  if  practically  val 
uable,  or,  if  relating  to  things  rare  and  curious,  "  to  adorn 
and  improve  her  conversation  ;"  and,  moreover,  always 
to  have  good  dictionaries  at  hand,  for  the  instant  expla 
nation  of  words  not  perfectly  understood,  particularly 
terms  of  science  and  art,  so  that  no  part  of  the  author's 
meaning  may  be  lost,  or  knowledge  rendered  defective, 
and  the  mental  perceptions  impaired,  by  any  confusion 
of  ideas. 

This  advice  is  believed  to  be  sound;  and  the  method 
of  making  "  short  hints,"  or  condensed  abstracts,  in  the 
reader's  own  language,  much  better  than  that  of  the 
usual  common-place  book,  to  which  passages  are  trans 
ferred  in  the  very  words  of  the  author.  The  former 
practice  may  be  rendered  an  efficient  mode  of  mental 
discipline,  promoting  the  habit  of  discriminative  and  ac 
curate  thinking,  and  so  strengthening  the  memory  as  well 
as  the  understanding  ;  while  the  latter  method,  though 
occasionally  well  for  the  convenient  preservation  of  pas 
sages  remarkable  for  some  felicity  of  expression,  or  other 
quality  of  mere  form,  seems  unsuited  for  any  purpose 
of  mental  training;  and  though  sometimes  recommended 
as  a  mode  of  cultivating  the  memory,  it  seems  less  fitted 


PERSONAL    ABUSE INDEMNITY-MONEY.  341 

to  aid  that  faculty,  than  to  injure  it  by  accustoming  it 
to  rely  on  the  common-place  book  rather  than  its  own 
power  of  retention. 

Franklin's  zeal  in  behalf  of  the  claims  of  Pennsylva 
nia,  and  the  ability  with  which  he  maintained  them,  ex 
cited  a  rancorous  hostility  on  the  part  of  the  Proprieta 
ries  and  their  retainers;  and  to  this  was  added  on  riie 
part  of  others,  the  high  tory  advocates  of  royal  preroga 
tive  and  adversaries  of  colonial  privileges,  another  con 
fluent  current  of  bitter  feeling  against  him,  for  the  ability 
and  effect  with  which  he  maintained  those  privileges  and 
the  general  cause  of  the  colonies.  From  these  two 
sources  proceeded  not  a  few  political  pamphlets  and 
newspaper  articles,  in  which,  from  time  to  time,  he  was 
assailed  with  gross  personal  abuse,  and  his  motives,  pur 
poses,  and  habits,  calumniously  misrepresented.  These 
things,  however,  gave  little  disturbance  to  his  equanim 
ity.  He  was  content  with  the  approval  of  his  own  con 
science  and  the  respect  and  friendship  of  the  men  most 
eminent  in  either  South  or  North  Britain  for  worth  and 
abilities,  and  regarded  this  personal  obloquy  with  cool 
indifference  or  silent  scorn.  Writing  from  London  to 
his  wife,  in  June,  1760,  he  says  :  "  I  am  concerned  that 
so  much  trouble  should  be  given  you  by  idle  reports 
concerning  me.  Be  satisfied,  my  dear  wife,  that  while 
I  have  my  senses,  and  God  vouchsafes  me  his  protection, 
I  shall  do  nothing  unworthy  the  character  of  an  honest 
man,  and  one  that  loves  his  family."  In  another  letter 
he  says  :  "  Let  no  one  make  you  uneasy  with  their  idle 
or  malicious  scribblings,  but  enjoy  yourself  and  friends, 
and  the  comforts  of  life  that  God  has  bestowed  on  you, 
with  a  cheerful  heart.  I  am  glad  their  pamphlets  give 
you  so  little  concern.  I  make  no  other  answer  to  them 
at  present,  than  what  appears  on  the  seal  of  this  letter." 
29* 


342  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

That  answer  was,  a  dove  above  a  snake  coiled  and  dart 
ing  forth  its  tongue,  with  a  motto  in  French,  signifying 
that — Innocence  surmounts  everything. 

In  the  autumn  of  this  year,  (1760,)  Franklin  received 
a  letter  from  Isaac  Norris,  Speaker  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Assembly,  accompanied  by  an  act  authorizing  and  direct- 
ino^/him,  as  provincial  agent,  to  receive  and  invest,  on 
behalf  of  the  province,  its  share  of  the  moneys  recently 
granted  by  parliament  as  some  indemnity  to  the  Ameri 
can  colonies  for  the  charges  they  had  incurred  in  1758, 
beyond  what  that  body  admitted  to  be  their  fair  propor 
tion,  in  support  of  the  war.  In  the  act  making  this 
grant,  the  Lower  Counties  (as  they  were  then  usually 
called,  now  the  state  of  Delaware)  were  joined  with 
Pennsylvania,  though  they  were  under  separate  govern 
ments.  The  number  of  men  kept  in  the  field  by  the 
two  governments  was  2,727,  the  quota  of  Pennsylvania 
being  2,446,  and  that  of  Delaware  281.  The  whole  sum 
apportioned  to  the  two  colonies,  was  twenty-nine  thou 
sand  nine  hundred  and  ninety-three  pounds  sterling,  of 
which  Pennsylvania's  share  was  nearly  twenty-seven 
thousand  pounds,  and  that  of  Delaware  a  little  over 
three  thousand. 

On  receiving  this  money,  Franklin  placed  it  in  the 
bank  of  England,  till  he  could  invest  it  in  stocks,  as  he 
soon  did,  pursuant  to  the  law  under  which  he  acted. 
The  investment  was  well  made ;  but  the  Assembly, 
moved  by  some  premature  rumors  of  peace,  indiscreetly 
ordered  the  stocks  to  be  sold  when  so  low  as  to  occasion 
considerable  loss ;  and  yet  the  Penn  party,  in  their  ran 
cor  toward  Franklin,  charged  the  loss  to  his  misconduct, 
and  claimed  that  he  should  make  it  up. 


PAMPHLET    ON    CANADA. 


CHAPTER   XXIII. 

PAMPHLET     ON     CANADA PENNSYLVANIA     CASE     DECIDED 

TOUR     IN     ENGLAND     AND     WALES NEW     WORDS 

NATURAL    HISTORY PHILOSOPHICAL    TOPICS TOUR  IN 

HOLLAND ART    OF    VIRTUE LATENT    HEAT WATER 

VAPORIZED     BY     ELECTRICITY POINTS     AND     KNOBS 

ARMOMCA LITERARY    HONORS RETURN    HOME. 

BEFORE  the  close  of  1759,  the  conquest  of  Canada 
had  been  achieved,  and  the  island  of  Guadaloupe  been 
taken,  by  the  British.  These  events  in  America,  with 
the  success  of  the  British  arms  in  East  India,  and  the 
overwhelming  superiority  of  the  British  navy,  were  fol 
lowed  by  indications  of  approaching  peace  ;  and  the 
terms  on  which  that  peace  should  be  concluded  began  to 
occupy  the  thoughts  of  leading  men  both  in  and  out  of 
the  British  cabinet. 

In  this  condition  of  public  affairs,  a  pamphlet  ap 
peared,  addressed  in  fact  to  the  duke  of  Newcastle,  then 
premier,  and  Mr.  Pitt,  one  of  the  secretaries  of  state, 
but  published  under  the  title  of  a  Letter  to  Two  Gi'eat 
Men,  and  written  by  the  earl  of  Bath,  better  known  as 
Mr.  Pultney,  in  which  he  urged  that,  whatever  conces 
sions  might  be  made  in  other  quarters,  on  the  conclusion 
of  peace,  Canada  should  be  retained  by  Great  Britain. 
A  reply  to  this  letter  soon  after  came  out,  anonymously, 
entitled  Remarks  on  the  Letter  to  Two  Great  Men,  in 
which  the  writer  maintained  that  Guadaloupe  would  be 
the  more  valuable  acquisition,  and  should  be  retained, 
while  Canada  should  be  restored  to  France. 


344  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

The  Remarker  was  supposed  by  many  to  be  the  cele 
brated  Edmund  Burke  ;  and  whether  the  supposition 
was  correct  or  not,  it  was  good  evidence  that  his  per 
formance  was  deemed  an  able  one.  Having,  from  a  de 
sire  not  to  seem  obtrusive,  waited  a  suitable  time  for  a 
reply  from  the  author  of  the  Letter,  Franklin  took  up  the 
subject.  In  one  respect,  if  no  more,  he  was  better  qual 
ified  to  discuss  it  than  either  of  the  other  writers,  or,  in 
deed,  any  man  in  England ;  and  that  was,  his  more  pre 
cise  and  thorough  knowledge  of  all  the  material  facts 
pertaining  to  the  state  of  things  in  America;  of  the  re 
sources,  wants,  progress,  and  prospects  of  the  colonies ; 
their  relations  to  Canada  and  to  the  Indian  tribes;  the 
features  of  the  country  already  occupied  by  the  colonial 
settlements,  as  well  as  the  regions  which  would  invite 
occupancy  as  soon  as  new  settlements  could  be  made 
with  a  reasonable  expectation  of  security  ;  the  extent  of 
the  Indian  trade,  and  its  value,  together  with  that  of  the 
colonies,  to  the  mother-country  ;  and,  in  short,  all  the 
peculiarly  American  topics  bearing  on  the  question.  In 
reference,  also,  to  the  more  general  topics,  whether  drawn 
from  history  or  from  the  relations  of  Great  Britain  to 
the  other  countries  of  Europe,  or  to  the  Indies  East  and 
West,  wherever  the  commercial  interests  of  the  British 
empire  were  involved,  he  showed  himself  to  be  at  least 
as  well  informed  as  any  man,  whether  in  or  out  of  the 
public  councils,  who  undertook  to  discuss  the  question, 
in  either  its  commercial  or  its  diplomatic  bearings  ; 
and  he  handled  it  with  an  ability  and  pungency,  and  at 
the  same  time  with  a  courtesy  and  fairness,  which  drew 
from  an  opponent,  in  another  anonymous  pamphlet, 
written  doubtless,  though  not  avowedly,  by  the  remarker, 
a  declaration  that  he  considered  the  author  of  the  Canada 
Pamphlet,  as  being  of  all  the  advocates  of  the  retention 
of  Canada,  "  clearly  the  ablest,  the  most  ingenious,  the 


CANADA    PAMPHLET.  345 

most  dexterous,  and  the  most  perfectly  acquainted  with 
the  strong  and  weak  points  of  the  argument,"  and  as 
having  "  said  everything,  and  everything  in  the  best  man 
ner,  that  the  cause  could  bear." 

A  brief  sketch  of  the  general  scope  and  tenor  of  this 
performance,  is  all  that  can  be  here  given  ;  but  this,  at 
least,  is  demanded  by  justice  to  its  author,  not  only  to 
illustrate  the  attitude  he  then  presented,  and  the  estima 
tion  in  which  he  was  then  held,  as  a  public  man,  but  also 
in  connection  with  other  evidence  subsequently  furnished 
from  time  to  time,  as  the  interests  and  rights  of  the 
American  colonies  grew  in  importance,  and  became 
more  and  more  deeply  affected  by  the  policy  of  the 
mother-country,  to  aid  in  showing  something  of  the 
extent  to  which  those  principles,  whereon  the  colonies 
at  last  took  their  stand  in  opposition  to  that  policy,  and 
the  arguments  by  which  those  principles  were  unfolded 
and  enforced,  are  traceable  to  Franklin,  and  to  the  influ 
ence  he  exerted  on  opinion  both  in  England  and  in 
America. 

The  question  discussed  in  the  pamphlet  before  us,  let 
it  be  remembered,  was,  which  of  her  two  conquests,  the 
island  of  Guadaloupe,  or  the  province  of  Canada  and 
its  dependencies,  Great  Britain  should  retain.  Franklin 
commences  with  a  compliment  to  the  ability  and  cour 
tesy  of  the  two  preceding  writers,  and  an  apology  for 
his  taking  up  the  discussion,  drawn  from  "  the  long  si 
lence"  of  the  author  of  the  Letter,  followed  by  some 
well-placed  observations  on  the  importance  of  the  ques 
tion  at  issue,  and  the  wisdom  of  thoroughly  canvassing 
it,  without  delay,  in  order  that  the  government  might 
be  prepared,  with  clear  and  well-settled  views  in  regard 
to  it,  to  enter  on  the  negotiations  by  which  it  would  be 
decided  at  the  close  of  the  war. 

The  first  point  relates  to  the  right  of  a  nation,  on  the 


346  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

successful  termination  of  a  just  war,  to  demand  cessions 
from  its  enemy,  by  way  of  indemnity  for  the  expenses 
forced  upon  the  former,  and  for  the  future  security  of 
any  exposed  part  of  her  dominions.  This  right  is  illus 
trated  by  various  examples  from  history  and  modern 
treaties  between  the  European  states ;  and  the  wisdom 
of  insisting  upon  it  in  the  case  under  consideration,  is 
enforced  by  a  striking  statement  of  the  nature  and 
extent  of  the  colonial  frontiers  and  the  Canadian  terri 
tory,  the  relations  between  them,  the  position  and  char 
acter  of  the  Indian  tribes,  the  influence  exercised  among 
them  by  French  missionaries  and  traders,  and  the  whole 
French  policy  in  Canada  and  Louisiana ;  all  which 
considerations  demonstrated  the  necessity  of  retaining 
Canada,  in  order  to  avoid  future  wars  with  their  heavy 
expenditures,  from  causes  arising  in  that  quarter,  and  to 
insure  the  safety  and  prosperity  of  the  colonies  and  their 
value  to  the  mother- country. 

The  second  point  relates  to  the  insufficiency  of  the 
method  insisted  on  by  his  opponent  and  usually  pursued, 
of  block-houses  and  forts,  however  strongly  garrisoned, 
or  however  judiciously  placed,  to  defend  a  frontier  nearly 
two  thousand  miles  in  length,  covered  with  vast  primeval 
forests,  swarming  with  savage  tribes  familiar  with  every 
part  of  them,  and  threading  them  in  every  direction,  in 
small  bands,  moving  with  a  celerity  that  baffled  anv  pos 
sible  effort  of  regular  troops  to  pursue  them,  or  even  to 
discover  their  trail,  unless  by  accident,  and  spreading 
desolation  and  terror  through  the  new  settlements.  Such 
military  posts  would,  indeed,  be  of  some  service  for 
guarding  particular  passes,  and  covering  a  few  places 
here  and  there  threatened  by  the  regular  troops  of  the 
enemy,  and  were  of  still  greater  use  as  depots  of  provis 
ions  and  warlike  stores,  but  were  utterly  ineffectual  to 
protect  the  general  frontier,  or  prevent  those  border  en- 


CANADA    PAMPHLET.  347 

croachments  and  quarrels  that  would  be  perpetually 
occurring  in  such  remote  regions  and  embroiling  the  two 
nations  ;  whereas  the  retention  of  Canada  "implied  every 
security,"  and  would  at  once  and  for  ever  cut  off  all  haz 
ard  of  future  wars  between  France  and  England,  from 
causes  originating  in  that  seed-bed  of  hostilities,  which, 
if  restored,  would  become  more  and  more  fruitful,  de 
manding  a  continually-increasing  military  establishment 
and  a  rapidly-augmenting  expenditure.  If  Canada  be 
retained,  says  Franklin,  "  we  shall  then,  as  it  were,  have 
our  back  against  a  wall ;  the  seacoast  will  be  easily  pro 
tected  by  our  superior  naval  power;  and  the  force  now 
employed  in  that  part  of  the  world  may  be  spared  for 
other  service,  so  that  both  the  offensive  and  defensive 
strength  of  the  British  empire  will  be  greatly  increased." 
The  third  point  relates  to  "  the  blood  and  treasure 
spent  in  America,"  by  the  mother-country,  which  the 
Remarkcr  had  said  was  expended  only  in  the  cause  of 
the  colonies.  This  notion,  a  very  prevalent  one  both 
then  and  afterward,  Franklin  met  with  a  full  and  clear 
exposure  of  its  fallacy  and  injustice.  He  did  not  pre 
tend  that  the  colonies  were  "  altogether  unconcerned," 
for  their  people  were  then  warmly  attached  to  the  moth 
er-country  ;  and  they  not  only  took  pride  in  her  glory 
and  prosperity,  in  peace  and  war,  but  had  "  exerted 
themselves  beyond  their  strength  and  against  their  evi 
dent  interest,"  in  her  behalf.  But  their  loyalty  "had 
made  against  them;"  and  for  no  better  reason  than  the 
fact,  that  the  battles  of  Great  Britain  had  been  fought  in 
America,  the  allegation  had  been  made  that  the  colonists 
were  "  the  authors  of  a  war,  carried  on  for  their  advan 
tage  only."  No  individual  and  no  public  body  of  any 
kind,  in  the  colonies,  had  any  individual  or  separate  in 
terest  in  the  retention  of  Canada;  they  wished  for  no 
lands  but  those  they  already  possessed,  and  for  no  con- 


348  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

quests,  except  only  for  the  sake  of  peace  and  security 
within  their  own  borders.  Indeed,  so  far  as  their  pecu 
niary  interests,  in  this  particular,  were  concerned,  the 
acquisition  of  additional  territory  would  be  a  detriment, 
by  bringing  more  land  into  market,  and  thus  contributing 
to  retard  the  growth  of  their  existing  settlements.  The 
mother-country,  on  the  contrary,  had  a  direct  and  sub 
stantial  interest  in  this  increase  of  territory  and  cheap 
lands,  through  the  influence  it  would  necessarily  exercise 
in  restricting  the  inhabitants  to  agriculture  as  their  great 
occupation ;  and  thus,  by  enlarging  the  demand  for  the 
manufactures  of  the  mother-country,  nourish  her  com 
merce  and  navigation,  and  augment  her  wealth  and  her 
naval  power. 

Besides,  it  was  unjust  and  invidious,  for  another  rea 
son,  to  represent  the  blood  and  treasure  spent  in  the  war, 
as  being  spent  in  the  cause  of  the  colonies  only.  The 
colonies  were,  in  truth,  but  part  of  the  frontiers  of  the 
empire;  and,  so  long  as  they  preserved  their  allegiance, 
had  as  perfect  a  claim  to  protection  as  any  county  in 
England.  The  acquisition  of  Canada  was  not  sought  to 
gratify  "  a  vain  ambition"  on  the  part  of  the  colonies,  as 
the  Rcmarker  had  insinuated  ;  it  was  sought  for  the  ben 
efit  of  the  whole  empire,  and  such  would  be  the  result 
of  retaining  it.  Should  the  kingdom  engage  in  a  war 
for  the  protection  of  her  manufacturing  and  commercial 
interests,  would  it  be  just  or  decent  to  charge  "the  blood 
and  treasure"  expended  in  it,  to  the  account  of  "  the 
weavers  of  Yorkshire,  the  cutlers  of  Sheffield,  or  the 
button-makers  of  Birmingham"  1 

Under  the  fourth  head,  the  argument  in  favor  of  the 
extension  of  the  colonial  settlements  toward  the  Missis 
sippi  and  along  the  great  lakes,  and  the  advantages  that 
would  result  to  the  mother-country  from  their  vast  in 
crease  of  population  and  general  prosperity,  is  expanded 


WESTERN    SETTLEMENT.  349 

and  enforced  with  peculiar  ability  and  the  exhibition  of 
the  most  statesmanlike  views.  The  Rcmarker  had  ob 
jected  that  the  interior  of  that  broad  territory  could  not 
be  reached  for  the  purposes  of  trade  to  the  benefit  of 
Great  Britain,  and  that  its  population,  soon  ceasing  to 
have  any  intercourse  with  the  mother-country,  would 
become  useless  if  not  dangerous  to  her  interests.  In 
reply,  it  is  shown  that  the  objection  proceeded  from 
ignorance  of  the  character  of  that  country  and  the  re 
markable  facilities  furnished  by  its  rivers  and  lakes  for 
an  internal  trade  of  greater  extent,  activity,  and  produc 
tiveness,  than  any  other  region  of  the  earth.  In  illustra 
tion  of  this  point,  reference  is  made  to  the  trade,  long 
carried  on,  for  British  account,  in  the  most  interior  parts 
of  Europe,  against  great  natural  difficulties,  and  the  still 
greater  embarrassments  arising  from  the  clashing  legis 
lation  of  numerous  states  ;  and  a  comprehensive  and 
masterly  view  is  added  of  the  various  routes  of  commerce 
through  Asia  and  Europe  in  ancient  and  modern  times. 
The  Indian  trade,  also,  is  adduced  to  show  that,  in  point 
of  fact,  that  interior  was  actually  traversed  in  every  di 
rection,  and  that  the  canoe  was  but  the  precursor  of  the 
larger  craft  destined  to  swarm  on  those  unrivalled  wa 
ters.  It  is  thus  demonstrated  that,  while  the  colonial 
population  would  be  spreading  westward,  the  manufac 
tures  of  England,  with  whatever  merchandise  her  ships 
might  bring,  would  certainly  follow  the  people,  who 
would  adhere  to  agriculture  as  their  main  occupation, 
till  those  vast  and  fertile  regions  should  be  brought  un 
der  cultivation  ;  that  manufactures  could  not  naturally 
grow  up  in  such  a  country,  inasmuch  as  the  population 
would  be  too  sparse  for  that,  while  land  was  cheap  ;  that 
the  climate  and  soil  were  so  varied  as  to  invite  the  culti 
vation,  not  only  of  food  of  every  kind  in  the  greatest 
abundance,  but  of  a  wide  variety  of  raw  products  for 
30 


350  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

manufacture  in  England  ;  that  the  result  to  Great  Britain 
would  be  a  rapid  increase  of  numbers,  wealth,  arts,  and 
power,  on  her  own  soil,  as  well  as  in  her  colonies  ;  a 
navigation  that  would  cover  the  seas,  and  a  navy  to  ride 
with  it  round  the  world. 

Compared  with  such  vast  benefits  to  the  mother-coun 
try,  the  natural  fruit  of  the  permanent  possession  of 
Canada,  and  of  the  consequent  security  and  growth  of  the 
American  colonies,  all  that  the  possession  of  Guadaloupe 
could  promise  was  insignificant  indeed  ;  and  as  to  the 
danger  of  disaffection  and  separation  on  the  part  of  the 
colonies  —  a  point  much  magnified  on  the  other  side  — 
it  was  but  imaginary,  so  long  as  the  imperial  govern 
ment  should  be  administered  with  ordinary  justice  and 
discretion,  and  the  charters  of  the  colonies,  together  with 
their  local  laws  and  usages  for  the  regulation  of  their 
own  internal  concerns,  should  be  respected.  The  policy 
of  ancient  Rome,  in  this  particular,  was  an  example  of 
wisdom  worth  imitating.  She  left  the  countries  she 
subdued  to  their  own  institutions,  independent  of  each 
other  and  tranquil,  so  long  as  they  preserved  their  alle 
giance  to  her.  In  pursuance  of  this  policy,  she  went 
even  so  far  as  to  release  the  Grecian  states  from  the 
Macedonian  yoke,  and  give  them  their  separate  inde 
pendence  and  their  own  laws,  not  retaining  even  the  ap 
pointment  of  their  governors.  Rome,  by  this  magnan 
imous  and  therefore  wise  policy,  not  caring  for  the 
ostentatious  but  irritating  parade  of  sovereignty,  enjoyed 
the  trade  of  the  dependent  nations,  received  their  tribute, 
and  swayed  the  world,  without  a  standing  army,  until 
"the  loss  of  liberty  and  the  corruption  of  manners  in  the 
sovereign  state  subverted  her  dominion." 

But  the  policy  of  the  Rcma?'kcr  would  leave  Canada 
to  the  French,  to  check  the  dangerous  growth  of  the 
American  colonies.  "  A  modest  word,  this  check"  says 


CANADA    PAMPHLET.  351 

Franklin — "for  the  massacre  of  men,  women,  and  chil 
dren."  To  restore  Canada  on  such  ground,  would  be 
to  invite  the  French  and  their  savage  allies  to  renew 
their  barbarities,  and  the  stain  of  such  blood-guiltiness 
would  rest  on  Britain.  Better  than  this  would  be  the 
Egyptian  policy  of  old,  to  strangle  at  its  birth  every 
male-child  born  in  the  colonies.  But  the  danger  of  sep 
aration,  and  the  narrow  jealousy  which  suggested  the 
policy  of  restoring  Canada,  was  idle  and  unjust,  except 
only  on  the  supposition  of  "  the  most  grievous  tyranny 
and  oppression"  on  the  part  of  the  mother-country. 
"People,"  says  Franklin,  "who  have  property  to  lose, 
and  privileges  to  be  endangered,  are  generally  disposed 
to  be  quiet,  and  to  bear  much,  rather  than  hazard  all. 
While  the  government  is  mild  and  just — while  impor 
tant  civil  and  religious  rights  are  secure  —  such  subjects 
will  be  dutiful  and  obedient.  The  waves  do  not  rise  but 
when  the  wind  blows." 

This  able  pamphlet  concludes  with  a  statistical  exhibit 
of  the  commercial  value  of  Guadaloupe  and  the  colonies, 
demonstrating  the  superiority  of  the  latter,  and  showing 
that,  if  tropical  produce  and  trade  were  to  be  the  con 
trolling  objects,  the  possession  of  Guadaloupe  was  far 
less  desirable  than  that  of  French  Guyana  and  Cayenne, 
on  the  neighboring  mainland  of  South  America,  which, 
from  the  small  number  of  the  French  there,  could  be 
much  more  easily  occupied  by  a  British  population,  and 
held  more  quietly  under  British  authority,  than  Guada 
loupe,  fully  peopled  as  it  was  by  the  French,  who  would 
always  be  disposed  to  throw  off  the  jurisdiction  of  for 
eigners  and  return  to  their  original,  natural  connections. 

Such  is  an  imperfect  outline  of  this  able,  enlightened 
performance.  It  exerted  a  very  extensive  and  powerful 
influence  on  the  public  mind,  and  unquestionably  con 
tributed  much  to  shape  the  course  of  the  ministry  in 


352  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

conducting  those  negotiations,  which  ended  in  obtaining 
Canada  arid  peace.  The  consequences  amply  sustained 
the  views  of  Franklin,  and  fully  vindicated  his  sagacity, 
in  everything,  except  the  justice  and  moderation  of  the 
British  government ;  and  that  single  exception  could  not 
have  been  made,  had  George  Grenville,  Lord  North,  and 
their  respective  colleagues,  manifested,  in  subsequent 
years,  half  the  true  statesmanship  of  the  provincial  agent 
of  Pennsylvania. 

At  length,  in  June,  1760,  the  cause  committed  to 
Franklin's  charge  by  the  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania, 
was  argued  before  the  board  of  trade.  The  particular 
case  on  which  the  argument  was  had,  was  an  act  of  the 
Assembly,  duly  signed  by  Governor  Denny,  entitled, 
"  An  act  for  granting  to  his  majesty  the  sum  of  one  hun 
dred  thousand  pounds,  striking  the  same  in  bills  of  cred 
it,  and  sinking  the  bills  by  a  tax  on  all  estates  real  and 
personal"  This  included,  of  course,  the  Proprietary 
estates  ;  and  though  the  decision  of  the  board  required 
some  few  formal  amendments  of  the  act,  for  the  sake  of 
greater  precision  in  some  of  its  details,  yet,  on  the  great 
point,  it  was  explicit,  that  the  estates  of  the  Proprietaries 
ought  to  be  assessed  and  taxed  in  the  same  manner  and 
to  the  same  extent,  as  all  other  estates  in  the  province. 

Though  the  hearing  took  place  in  June,  yet  the  report 
of  the  whole  matter,  with  the  decision  thereon  by  the 
board,  to  the  privy  council,  together  with  other  formali 
ties  appertaining  to  it,  detained  Franklin  in  London,  as 
he  remarks  in  a  subsequent  letter  to  Lord  Kames,  until 
the  middle  of  September. 

Although  the  leading  object  of  Franklin's  mission  to 
England  was  now  accomplished,  yet  other  affairs  of  the 
province  kept  him  still  in  that  country  ;  and  during  a 
short  period  of  leisure  following  the  attainment  of  the 
object  mentioned,  he  made  another  excursion,  with  his 


TOUR    IN    WALES    AND    WEST    OP    ENGLAND.  353 

son,  to  the  northern  parts  of  the  kingdom,  taking  a  route 
somewhat  west  of  his  former  one  to  Scotland,  and  re 
turning  through..  Wales.  Writing  at  Coventry,  under 
date  of  the  27th  of  September,  to  Lord  Kames,  he  states 
that  he  had  intended,  when  the  excursion  was  originally 
planned,  in  the  preceding  summer,  to  cross  over  to  Ire 
land,  and  having  made  the  tour  of  that  island,  pass  from 
one  of  its  northern  ports  into  the  southwest  of  Scotland, 
and  so  make  a  circuit  to  Edinburgh,  for  the  sake  of  once 
more  seeing  his  friends  in  that  neighborhood ;  but  that 
the  litigation  with  the  Proprietary  had  delayed  him  so 
long  in  London,  as  already  stated,  that  he  was  obliged 
to  relinquish  the  more  important  part  of  his  design. 

In  a  letter  to  David  Hume,  of  the  same  date,  Franklin 
expresses  the  gratification  it  had  given  him  to  learn  that 
Mr.  Hume's  opinions  concerning  America  had  recently 
become  more  favorable  than  they  had  been ;  for,  says 
he,  "I  think  it  of  importance  to  our  general  welfare,  that 
the  people  of  this  nation  should  have  right  notions  of  us; 
and  I  know  of  no  one  who  has  it  more  in  his  power  to 
rectify  those  notions,  than  Mr.  Hume."  That  distin 
guished  writer  had  then  recently  put  forth  his  able 
Essay  on  the  Jealousy  of  Commerce ;  and  Franklin,  in 
the  same  letter,  expresses  the  pleasure  it  had  given  him, 
particularly  for  the  following  reason  :  "  I  think,"  says 
Franklin,  "it  can  not  but  have  a  good  effect  in  promoting 
a  certain  interest,  too  little  thought  of  by  selfish  man, 
and  scarcely  ever  mentioned,  so  that  we  hardly  have  a 
name  for  it :  I  mean  the  interest  of  humanity,  or  the 
common  good  of  mankind.  But  I  hope,  particularly 
from  that  essay,  an  abatement  of  the  jealousy,  that 
reigns  here,  of  the  commerce  of  the  colonies." 

The  change  in  some  of  Mr.  Hume's  sentiments  rela 
ting  to  America,  as  mentioned  above,  had  been  pro 
duced,  in  great  part  at  least,  by  the  Canada  Pamphlet, 


354  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

which  Franklin  had  sent  him  ;  and  it  seems,  from  the 
letter  already  cited,  that  Mr.  Hume,  in  another  referring 
to  it,  had,  with  the  frankness  of  friendship,  criticised 
some  of  the  expressions  employed  in  the  pamphlet. 
Among  these  were  the  words  pejorate,  colonize,  and  un 
shakable.  After  thanking  his  friend  for  his  admonition, 
and  saying  that  he  should  give  up  the  words,  for  the 
reason  that  they  were  not  recognised  by  usage,  he  ad 
mits  the  position  that  new  words  should  not  be  coined, 
when  there  are  already  old  ones  sufficiently  expressive; 
but  he  adds  the  wish  that  usage  would  give  a  readier 
sanction  to  new  terms,  formed  by  compounding  such  as 
already  belong  to  the  language  and  are  universally  un 
derstood  ;  and  he  refers  to  the  German,  as  well  as  the 
Latin  and  G-reek,  to  sanction  the  practice;  remarking, 
that  words  compounded  of  such  as  are  already  familiar, 
would  be  better  than  any  that  could  be  borrowed  from 
other  tongues,  inasmuch  as  their  full  meaning  would  be 
instantly  and  completely  apprehended. 

Much  of  this  we  believe  to  be  sound  doctrine,  if  cau 
tiously  applied.  Still,  Franklin's  modesty,  or  courtesy, 
led  him,  we  think,  to  defer  to  Mr.  Hume's  authority 
somewhat  beyond  the  true  rule.  Not  that  we  would  ask 
the  mint-stamp  on  pejorate  ;  for,  to  cite  but  one  example, 
having  deteriorate,  the  other  seems  needless,  though 
equally  legitimate  in  its  formation,  each  being  originally 
derived  from  the  comparative  degree  of  a  Latin  adjec 
tive,  the  old  word  through  the  French,  the  other  directly 
from  its  Roman  primitive.  As  to  colonize,  however,  it 
is  not  only  in  common  and  unquestioned  use,  in  these 
days,  by  the  best  writers,  but  it  was  so,  long  before  the 
year  1760 ;  probably  as  long  before  as  the  condition 
and  political  relations  of  communities  called  colonies 
were  understood  by  Englishmen,  or  the  planting  of  them 
was  the  subject  of  discourse  in  the  English  language; 


NEW    WORDS.  355 

and  in  its  vocabulary  there  is  not  a  word  more  regular 
and  legitimate,  in  form  or  use. 

We  do  not  intend  to  enter,  here,  into  a  philological 
dissertation ;  but  it  may  be  allowable  to  remark,  that, 
when  the  progress  of  knowledge  and  of  society  produces 
new  facts  and  truths,  or  new  institutions,  then  the  very 
design  and  end  of  all  language  demand  new  words  to 
express  the  new  ideas,  and  to  discourse  with  clearness 
and  precision  concerning  the  new  subjects  of  thought. 
In  this  way  it  is  that  the  vocabularies  of  all  tongues  have 
been  extended  ;  and  all  that  sound  principle  requires  is, 
that  the  new  terms  shall  be  formed  in  accordance  with 
the  established  laws  of  the  language  to  which  they  are 
added.  Even  when  subjects  of  thought,  not  essentially 
and  strictly  new,  are  placed  in  unusual  relations,  and 
new  terms,  if  not  absolutely  indispensable,  become  desi 
rable,  for  the  more  exact,  forcible,  or  graceful  expression 
of  the  ideas  suggested  by  the  varied  aspects  of  the  sub 
ject,  the  languages  of  all  civilized  nations  have  freely  ad 
mitted  them,  not  from  caprice,  nor  even  for  convenience 
alone,  nor  only  for  the  yet  higher  purpose  of  giving  style 
new  attractions  by  giving  it  a  more  varied  power  of  ex 
pression,  or  an  easier  flow,  but  also  as  being  both  the 
instruments  and  proofs  of  greater  accuracy  of  thought  and 
increasing  intellectual  culture;  and  this  augmentation 
of  the  means  of  communicating  ideas  is  one  of  the  pro 
cesses,  perhaps  the  most  efficient  one,  by  which  the  civ 
ilization  and  refinement  of  nations  are  advanced. 

During  his  residence  in  London,  though  he  was  unable 
to  give  any  systematic  attention  to  philosophical  studies, 
yet  he  availed  himself  of  occasional  opportunities  fur 
nished  by  the  delay  of  his  business,  to  perform  an  exper 
iment,  or-  attend  a  meeting  of  professed  cultivators  of 
science,  or  write  to  a  correspondent  on  some  topic  of  his 
favorite  pursuit.  Tn  June  of  ]  758,  he  addressed  such  a 


356  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

letter  to  John  Lining,  of  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  a 
correspondent  of  that  class,  on  the  cooling  of  the  surfaces 
of  bodies  by  evaporation.  This  topic  had  been  started 
before  Franklin  left  home  on  his  present  mission ;  and 
in  the  letter  now  mentioned,  he  relates  an  experiment 
he  had  recently  exhibited  at  Cambridge,  in  conjunction 
with  Professor  Hadley,  of  the  university  there,  in  which, 
by  successive  wettings  of  the  glass  bulb  of  a  thermome 
ter  with  ether,  and  permitting  each  wetting  to  evaporate, 
as  it  rapidly  did,  being  aided  by  blowing  on  the  bulb 
with  a  pair  of  bellows,  the  mercury  in  the  tube  was  sent 
down  twenty-five  degrees  below  freezing  point,  and  ice. 
nearly  a  fourth  of  an  inch  thick,  was  formed  on  the  bulb, 
"  From  this  experiment,"  says  Franklin,  "  one  may  see 
the  possibility  of  freezing  a  man  to  death,  on  a  warm 
summer-day,  if  he  were  to  stand  in  a  passage,  through 
which  the  wind  blew  briskly,  and  were  wet  frequently 
with  ether,  a  spirit  more  inflammable  than  brandy,  or 
common  spirits  of  wine." 

The  principle  thus  demonstrated  Franklin  applies,  as 
his  habit  was,  to  various  cases  of  practical  importance. 
Many  a  person  has  received  great  injury  to  his  health, 
from  seeking,  when  much  heated  and  wet  with  perspira 
tion,  to  refresh  himself  in  such  a  passage,  by  having  his 
body  too  rapidly  cooled  down  by  evaporation  from  its 
surface.  On  the  other  hand,  by  this  same  law  of  nature, 
the  husbandman,  while  gathering  his  harvests  in  the  field 
under  a  burning  sun,  is  protected  from  a  heat  that  would 
overpower  him,  if  it  were  not  carried  off  by  evaporation 
from  his  perspiring  body.  On  the  same  principle,  water, 
milk,  butter,  or  anything  else,  may  be  cooled  in  vessels 
wrapped  with  cloths,  wetted  often  enough  to  keep  up  an 
active  evaporation  ;  and  so,  too,  local  inflammation  on 
the  human  body,  whether  occasioned  by  bruises,  boils, 
or  other  hot  tumors,  may  be  cooled,  and  pain  diminished, 


EVAPORATION TIDES.  357 

by  laying  on  linen  kept  wet  with  spirit,  which  is  better 
than  water,  for  this  purpose,  because  it  evaporates  faster. 
In  the  summer  of  1760,  in  several  interesting  letters 
to  Miss  Stevenson,  then  at  Wanstead,  a  little  distance 
from  London,  Franklin  explains,  for  her  instruction,  the 
action  of  tides  in  rivers,  both  the  flow  and  ebb  taking 
place  in  the  form  of  tidal  waves,  the  top  of  each  wave, 
that  is  to  say,  high-water,  reaching  successive  places  at 
successive  points  of  time,  so  as  to  make  the  surface  of 
the  river  present,  in  fact,  a  succession  of  curves.  In 
another  of  these  letters,  speaking  of  inquiries  into  the 
character  and  habits  of  insects  —  a  study  to  which  his 
young  friend  was  devoting  part  of  her  time  —  he  illus 
trates  the  utility  of  such  inquiries,  by  references  to  the 
honey-bee,  the  cochineal  insect,  the  silk-worm,  and  other 
instances ;  and  relates  the  method  which  the  great  Swe 
dish  naturalist,  Linnaeus,  suggested,  for  protecting  the 
green  timber  in  the  dockyards  of  Sweden  from  a  worm 
by  which  large  quantities  had  been  materially  injured. 
Linnaeus  having  detected  the  origin  of  the  worms  from 
eggs  deposited  in  the  small  crevices  in  the  surfaces  of 
timber,  and  the  fly  which  deposited  the  eggs,  and  having 
ascertained  accurately  the  period  when  the  eggs  were 
deposited,  recommended  that,  some  days  before  the  com 
mencement  of  that  period,  all  the  green  timber  should 
be  placed  under  water  till  the  period  had  passed  by. 
The  timber  was  thus  secured  from  injury,  in  that  form, 
by  pursuing  the  course  recommended,  only  once  with  the 
same  timber  ;  for  the  process  of  seasoning  rendered  the 
timber,  by  the  next  year,  too  hard  for  the  worm  to  pen 
etrate.  Though  the  utility  of  this,  as  well  as  other 
branches  of  natural  history,  is  thus  explicitly  recognised 
by  Franklin,  yet  he  felt  that  there  was  a  certain  fitness, 
or  propriety,  which  should  regulate  the  attention  to  such 
pursuits,  according  to  individual  position  and  the  pres- 


358  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

sure  of  other  obligations;  and  he  closes  with  the  follow 
ing  admonition,  for  the  sake  of  which,  in  part,  the  letter 
has  been  cited  :  — 

"  There  is,  however,"  says  Franklin,  "  a  prudent 
moderation  to  be  used  in  studies  of  this  kind.  The 
knowledge  of  nature  may  be  ornamental,  and  it  may  be 
useful  ;  but  if,  to  attain  an  eminence  in  that,  we  neglect 
the  knowledge-  and  practice  of  essential  duties,  we  de 
serve  reprehension.  For  there  is  no  rank  in  natural 
knowledge,  of  equal  dignity  and  importance  with  that 
of  being  a  good  parent,  a  good  child,  a  good  husband  or 
wife,  a  good  neighbor  or  friend,  a  good  subject  or  citizen 
—  that  is,  in  short,  a  good  Christian.  Nicholas  Gim- 
crack,  therefore,  who  neglected  the  care  of  his  family,  to 
pursue  butterflies,  was  a  just  object  of  ridicule,  and  we 
must  give  him  up  as  fair  game  to  the  satirist." 

During  his  journeys  in  England  and  Scotland,  Frank 
lin  took  occasion  to  inquire,  among  other  things,  into  the 
condition  of  their  hospitals,  with  a  view  to  the  benefit 
of  the  hospital  which  he  had  helped  to  establish  and 
manage  in  Philadelphia;  and  in  replying,  under  date  of 
February  26,  1761,  to  Hugh  Roberts,  a  co-manager  of 
that  institution,  he  informs  him  that  he  should  send,  by 
the  same  ship  that  would  take  his  letter,  various  tran 
scripts  of  regulations  and  accounts  given  him  at  different 
English  and  Scotch  hospitals,  from  which  useful  hints 
might  perhaps  be  taken  in  regard  to  management  and 
expenditure ;  and  that  he  hoped  to  obtain  some  contri 
butions  of  money.  His  friend  was  also  a  member  of  the 
Junto,  and  in  his  letter  had  spoken  of  his  attending  the 
meetings  of  the  club  occasionally.  Franklin  replies  that 
he  should  do  it  oftener ;  that  the  members  all  loved  and 
respected  him;  that  "people  are  apt  to  grow  strange 
and  not  understand  one  another  so  well,  when  they  meet 
but  seldom ;"  that  for  himself,  he  loved  cheerful  com- 


VISIT    TO     HOLLAND HUME.  359 

pany  as  well  as  ever,  while  at  the  same  time  he  enjoyed 
with  a  higher  relish  "  the  grave  observations  and  wise 
sentences"  of  the  conversation  of  cheerful  old  men,  ripe 
with  experience. 

Being  still  detained  in  England,  he  took  an  opportu 
nity,  in  the  summer  of  1761,  to  visit  Holland  and  Flan 
ders.  No  account  of  this  visit  remains,  except  a  brief 
letter  to  his  wife,  dated  at  Utrecht,  September  14,  1761, 
in  which  he  tells  her  that,  "having  seen  almost  all  the 
principal  places,  and  the  things  worthy  of  notice,  we  [he 
and  his  son]  are  on  our  return  to  London,"  where  he 
intended  to  arrive  in  time  to  witness  the  coronation  of 
George  III.  He  adds  :  "  We  are  in  good  health,  and 
have  had  a  great  deal  of  pleasure,  and  received  a  good 
deal  of  information  in  this  tour,  that  may  be  useful  when 
we  return  to  America." 

In  January,  1762,  Franklin,  in  answer  to  a  written  re 
quest  from  Mr.  Hume,  wrote  him  a  minute  description 
of  the  manner  in  which  lightning-rods  should  be  made 
and  attached  to  buildings.  In  his  reply,  dated  the  10th 
of  May  following,  Mr.  Hume,  after  expressing  his  thanks, 
and  referring  to  some  other  matters,  pays  the  following 
tribute  to  Franklin's  worth  and  eminence  :  "  I  am  very 
sorry  that  you  intend  soon  to  leave  our  hemisphere. 
America  has  sent  us  many  good  things,  gold,  silver,  su 
gar,  indigo,  &c. ;  but  you  are  the  first  philosopher,  and 
indeed  the  first  great  man  of  letters,  for  whom  we  are 
beholden  to  her.  It  is  our  own  fault  that  we  have  not 
kept  him  ;  whence  it  appears  that  we  do  not  agree  with 
Solomon,  that  wisdom  is  above  gold ;  for  we  take  care 
never  to  send  back  an  ounce  of  the  latter  which  we  once 
lay  our  fingers  upon." 

In  March  of  the  same  year  he  received  a  letter  from 
his  wife,  announcing  the  death  of  her  mother,  Mrs.  Read, 
at  a  very  advanced  age.  The  following  passage  from 


360  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

Franklin's  reply,  will  give  another  illustration  of  the 
ready  sympathy  and  warmth  of  his  affections  :  "  I  con 
dole  with  you  most  sincerely,"  says  he  to  his  wife,  "  on 
the  death  of  our  good  mother,  being  extremely  sensible 
of  the  distress  and  affliction  it  must  have  given  you. 
Your  comfort  will  be,  that  no  care  was  wanting  on  your 
part  toward  her,  and  that  she  had  lived  as  long  as  this 
life  could  afford  her  any  rational  enjoyment.  It  is,  I  am 
sure,  a  satisfaction  to  me,  that  I  can  not  charge  myself 
with  having  ever  failed  in  one  instance  of  duty  and  re 
spect  to  her,  during  the  many  years  that  she  called  me 
son  ;"  and  after  a  passing  reference  to  the  time  of  his 
return  home,  he  adds,  "  God  grant  us  a  happy  meeting." 
Writing  to  Lord  Kames,  under  a  little  earlier  date,  to 
thank  him  for  a  work  entitled  Introduction  to  the  Art  of 
Thinking,  originally  written  by  that  nobleman  for  the 
benefit  of  his  own  children  while  pursuing  their  early 
studies,  and  sent  by  him,  on  its  publication,  to  Franklin, 
the  latter,  in  his  reply,  makes  the  following  remarks  : 
"  To  produce  the  number  of  valuable  men  necessary  in 
a  nation  for  its  prosperity,  there  is  much  more  hope  from 
early  institution  than  from  reformation.  And,  as  the 
power  of  a  single  man,  in  particular  situations  of  influ 
ence,  to  do  national  service,  is  often  immensely  great,  a 
writer  can  hardly  conceive  of  the  good  he  may  be  doing, 
when  engaged  in  works  of  this  kind."  He  then  refers 
again  to  his  long-meditated  work,  (an  outline  of  which 
has  been  presented  in  a  former  part  of  this  book,)  on  the 
Art  of  Virtue,  declaring  that  "  it  is  not  a  mere  ideal 
work;"  that  having  "first  planned  it  in  1732,"  he  had 
made  use  of  it  himself,  and  induced  others  to  do  so,  with 
beneficial  effect;  that  he  had  been  accumulating  materi 
als  for  it,  from  time  to  time,  ever  since ;  and  that  he  in 
tended  to  avail  himself  of  his  "  first  leisure"  to  complete 
it,  on  his  return  to  his  own  country.  But  the  demand 


X 

ART    OF    VIRTUE.  361 

of  the  public  for  his  services,  growing  more  urgent  as 
their  value  became  more  apparent,  the  pressure  of  pub 
lic  business,  instead  of  allowing  him  the  leisure  he  had 
hoped  for,  became  more  engrossing  than  ever,  and  this 
long-meditated  plan  was  never  executed. 

His  own  view  of  the  need  and  the  probable  usefulness 
of  such  a  work  he  explains  in  the  letter  just  cited,  by 
saying,  substantially,  that  there  are  many  persons  whose 
lives  are  unprofitable,  or  pernicious,  not  so  much  from 
any  settled  wickedness  of  motive,  or  systematic  design, 
as  from  accident  and  ignorance — from  not  comprehend 
ing,  in  season,  the  necessary  tendencies  of  early  habits, 
or  their  own  power  to  control  and  reform  bad  habits ; 
that  such  persons  would  willingly,  as  the  long  list  of 
their  broken  resolutions  show,  have  persevered  in  the 
endeavor  to  become  upright  and  respectable  men,  useful 
to  themselves,  their  families,  and  society,  if,  in  addition 
to  precept,  they  had  been  shown  how  to  obey  the  pre 
cept —  if  the  rules  and  principal  details  of  right  conduct 
had  been  placed  distinctly  before  them,  so  that  they 
might  know  precisely  the  particular  acts  they  were  to  do 
every  day,  and  which,  when  done,  would  constitute  a 
well-spent  day  ;  that  this  process  is  virtually  the  same 
as  that  which  is  followed  in  training  men  to  every  one 
of  the  mechanical  arts,  and  all  other  practical  occupa 
tions.  If  a  man,  as  he  says,  would  become  a  painter, 
navigator,  or  architect,  it  is  not  enough  that  he  is  advised 
and  convinced  that  it  would  be  for  his  advantage  to  be 
one  ;  but  he  must  be  also  taught  the  particular  principles 
of  his  art,  as  well  as  its  metJt-ods  of  working,  and  espe 
cially  the  use  of  his  tools  by  actually  handling  them 
every  day,  for  a  series  of  years,  till  he  shall  have  ac 
quired  the  Jidbit  of  handling  them  skilfully  and  success 
fully.  So,  the  art  of  virtue  is  a  practical  matter,  and 
has  its  appropriate  instruments,  and  manner  of  employ- 
31 


362  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

ing  them  ;  and,  to  use  his  own  words,  "to  expect  people 
to  be  good,  just,  temperate,  and  so  forth,  without  showing 
them  how  to  become  so,  seems  like  the  ineffectual  charity 
mentioned  by  the  apostle,  which  consisted  in  saying  to 
the  hungry,  cold,  and  naked,  '  Be  ye  fed,  be  ye  warmed, 
be  ye  clothed?  without  showing  them  how  they  could  get 
food,  fire,  or  clothing." 

The  want  of  time  to  execute  such  a  work  as  Franklin 
had  thus  conceived  and  would  have  produced,  is,  we 
think,  to  be  regretted.  When,  on  the  one  hand,  we  con 
sider  with  what  power  prevalent  usages  and  manners  act 
on  personal  habits  and  character — how  deeply  the  gen 
eral  tone  of  thought  and  feeling  abroad  in  society  affect 
individual  views  of  duty,  and  of  the  true  ends  of  life  — 
how  few,  especially  at  the  early  age  when  only  can  much 
effect  be  ordinarily  expected  from  any  method  of  moral 
training,  have  sufficient  intelligence,  or  self-directing 
power,  to  frame  or  follow  a  plan  of  self-discipline  com 
prehending  the  whole  of  life  arid  such  an  employment 
of  their  faculties  and  opportunities  as  may  warrant 
a  reasonable  expectation  of  any  considerable  amount 
of  beneficial  results  —  and  how  many,  therefore,  en 
counter  life  piecemeal,  as  it  were,  running  a  career  of 
unconnected  efforts  and  isolated  enterprises,  and  exhib 
iting,  at  the  close,  a  saddening  spectacle  of  energies 
wasted,  and  talents  producing  no  permanently-valuable 
results,  simply  for  the  want  of  well-defined  and  consist 
ent  aims  ;  and  then,  on  the  other  hand,  when  we  reflect 
on  the  method  contemplated  by  Franklin,  for  assist 
ing  the  youth  of  each  generation  to  train  themselves 
to  both  virtuous  habits  and  consistent  action,  in  plying 
their  various  callings  and  pursuing  the'  lawful  objects 
of  life  —  when  we  reflect  on  these  things,  and  advert  to 
the  rich  experience,  varied  observation,  and  profound 
sagacity,  from  which  the  rules  and  lessons  of  his  work 


GLASS    AND    ELECTRICITY.  363 

would  have  been  drawn,  we  can  not  resist  the  conviction 
that  the  fulfilment  of  the  design  in  question,  would  have 
presented  a  method  of  self-examination  and  self-disci 
pline  more  thoroughly  practical,  in  both  form  and  spirit, 
as  well  as  more  efficient  in  producing  beneficent  results, 
by  its  influence  on  manners,  habits,  motives,  conduct, 
and  the  general  well-being  of  private  and  domestic  life, 
than  anything  of  the  same  class  and  design  that  has  yet 
been  furnished. 

Among  Franklin's  cotemporaries,  one  of  the  most 
enlightened  and  successful  experimenters  in  electricity, 
was  Ebenezer  Kinnersley,  of  Philadelphia,  an  old  friend 
and  correspondent.  In  a  long  letter,  dated  at  London, 
February  20,  1762,  replying  to  a  similar  one,  on  elec 
trical  topics,  Franklin  confirms  the  experiments  of  his 
friend,  showing  that  glass,  which,  at  the  ordinary  tem 
perature,  is  one  of  the  most  perfect  non-conductors  of 
electricity,  is  rendered  permeable  by  it,  when  expanded 
by  heat ;  and  in  the  same  letter  Franklin  broaches  the 
idea  that  all  bodies  contain  a  specific  quantity  of  heat, 
or  caloric,  diffused  through  their  substance,  and  varying 
in  amount  according  to  density  and  arrangement  of  parts, 
but  quiescent  and  not  affecting  sensation,  till  excited  and 
evolved  by  some  external  agency  —  an  idea  since  proved 
to  have  been  well  founded,  and  the  basis  of  what  has 
been  designated  as  the  theory  of  latent  heat.  He  was 
led  to  this  idea  by  simply  considering  the  manner  of  ob 
taining  heat  and  fire  by  rubbing  together  two  pieces  of 
dry  wood,  by  hammering  metals,  and  by  the  sudden  and 
forcible  collision  of  flint  and  steel  ;  facts  which,  though 
so  long  known,  seem  never  before  to  have  suggested  any 
philosophical  induction. 

The  fact  that  even  a  small  amount  of  electrical  fire,  as 
obtained  in  the  laboratory,  yields  heat  enough  to  convert 
water  into  vapor,  is  also  communicated  in  the  same  let- 


364  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

ter.  The  way  in  which  he  detected  this  fact,  he  relates 
as  follows  :  "  Water  reduced  to  vapor  is  said  to  occupy 
fourteen  thousand  times  its  former  space.  I  have  sent  a 
charge  through  a  small  glass  tube  that  has  borne  it  well 
while  empty,  but,  when  filled  first  with  water,  was  shat 
tered  in  pieces  and  driven  all  about  the  room.  Finding 
no  part  of  the  water  on  the  table,  I  suspected  it  to  have 
been  reduced  to  vapor;  and  was  confirmed  in  that  sus 
picion  afterward,  when  1  had  filled  a  like  tube  with  ink 
and  laid  it  on  a  sheet  of  clean  paper,  whereon,  after  the 
explosion,  I  could  find  neither  any  moisture  nor  any  sully 
from  the  ink."  He  then  suggests  that  this  fact  may  ex 
plain  the  effects  sometimes  produced  by  lightning  on 
trees  when  they  are  reduced,  by  the  stroke,  to  "fine 
splinters  like  a  broom  ;  the  sap-vessels  being  so  many 
tubes  containing  a  watery  fluid,  which,  when  reduced  to 
vapor,  rends  the  tubes  lengthwise."  He  adds  :  "  Per 
haps  it  is  this  rarefaction  of  the  fluids  in  animals  killed 
by  lightning,  or  electricity,  which,  by  separating  its  fibres, 
renders  the  flesh  so  tender  and  apt  so  much  sooner  to 
putrefy  ;"  and  that  "  much  of  the  damage  done  by  light 
ning  to  walls  of  brick  or  stone  may  sometimes  be  owing 
to  the  explosion  of  water  lodging  upon  them  or  in  their 
crevices." 

Notwithstanding  the  full  and  clear  expositions  Frank 
lin  had  long  before  given,  of  the  different  electrical 
action  of  linobs  and  points,  yet  some  of  the  few  electri 
cians  of  reputation  then  possessed  by  England  still 
maintained  that  lightning-rods  terminating  upward  with 
knobs  were  better  protectors  than  pointed  ones,  for  the 
alleged  reason  that  "  points  invite  the  stroke."  To  this 
he  replied  that,  although  points  draw  the  electrical  fire 
at  greater  distances  than  knobs,  "  in  the  gradual  and 
silent  way,"  yet  that  an  explosion,  or  violent  stroke,  in 
which  the  danger  lies,  is  drawn  farthest  by  the  knob,  as 


POINTS    AND    KNOBS.  365 

experiments  had  undeniably  demonstrated.  The  above- 
named  fallacy  is  adverted  to  in  the  letter  to  Mr.  Kinners- 
ley ;  and  in  an  earlier  letter  to  M.  Dalibard,  of  Paris, 
Franklin,  referring  to  that  and  other  fallacies,  observes 
that  his  views  respecting  these  rods  seemed  to  have  been 
extensively  misconceived,  and  the  principles  from  which 
they  derived  their  protecting  power  only  half  understood  ; 
that  their  more  common  and  valuable  effect  resulted  from 
the  very  fact  objected  to  by  the  knob-men,  inasmuch  as 
the  point  usually  disarmed  the  thunder-cloud,  by  silently 
drawing  its  electricity  from  it  to  such  an  extent  as  to 
prevent  explosion,  and  yet,  also,  in  case  of  explosion,  it 
conducted  the  formidable  element  certainly  and  safely 
to  the  ground.  "  Yet,"  says  he,  "  whenever  my  opinion 
is  examined  in  Europe,  nothing  is  considered  but  the 
probability  of  those  rods  pi-eventing  a  stroke  or  explo 
sion,  which  is  only  apart  of  the  use  I  had  proposed  for 
them;  and  the  otlier  part,  their  conducting  a  stroke 
which  they  may  happen  not  to  prevent,  seems  to  be 
totally  forgotten,  though  of  equal  importance  and  advan- 
tage." 

Among  the  many  good  gifts  Franklin  had  received 
from  the  "  Former  of  his  body  and  Father  of  his  spirit," 
was  an  uncommonly  fine  ear  for  music ;  and  this,  acting 
on  the  mechanical  faculty,  which  he  also  possessed  in 
liberal  measure,  led  him  to  devise  and  construct  a  new 
musical  instrument,  of  which  he  gave  a  minute  and  full 
description,  in  a  letter,  dated  at  London,  July  13,  1762, 
to  the  celebrated  Italian  philosopher,  John  Baptist  Bec- 
caria,  who  not  only  translated  his  papers  on  electricity, 
but  defended  his  doctrines  on  that  subject,  and  with 
whom  he  corresponded  for  many  years.  The  particular 
occasion  which  suggested  this  trial  of  his  mechanical 
dexterity  and  skill  in  music,  was  the  delight  he  had 
taken  in  listening  to  some  performances  on  the  instru- 
31* 


366  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

ment,  then  recently  introduced  among  the  musical  circles, 
called  the  musical  glasses. 

Some  years  before,  an  Irish  gentleman,  by  the  name 
of  Puckeridge,  having  often  observed  "  the  sweet  tone 
that  is  drawn  from  a  drinking-glass  by  passing  a  wet 
finger  round  its  brim,"  conceived  the  idea  of  arranging 
a  number  of  glass  goblets,  so  varied  in  size  and  thick 
ness  as  to  yield  the  notes  of  the  common  gamut  in  reg 
ular  succession,  and  so  firmly  secured,  each  by  its  foot, 
on  a  table  or  frame,  as  to  be  readily  reached  and  touched 
by  the  performer.  To  aid  in  tuning  these  glasses,  wa 
ter,  in  such  quantity  as  might  be  needful,  was  poured  in. 
The  house  in  which  the  inventor  resided,  unfortunately 
taking  fire,  he,  with  his  instrument,  was  consumed.  A 
Mr.  Del  aval,  however,  an  ingenious  man,  and  a  member 
of  the  Royal  Society,  having  seen  and  heard  the  musical 
glasses,  made  another  instrument,  with  a  better  chosen 
set  of  glasses ;  and  this  was  the  first  one  that  came  to 
the  notice  of  Franklin.  "  Being  charmed,"  says  he,  "by 
the  sweetness  of  its  tones  and  the  music  produced  from 
it,  I  wished  only  to  see  the  glasses  disposed  in  a  more 
convenient  form,  and  brought  together  in  a  narrow  com 
pass,  so  as  to  admit  a  greater  number  of  tones,"  by  in 
creasing  the  number  of  glasses. 

After  various  trials,  in  both  the  form  of  the  glasses  and 
the  mode  of  arranging  them,  he  finally  adopted  a  set  of 
glass  bowls  or  hemispheres,  thirty-six  in  number,  regu 
larly  diminishing  from  a  diameter  of  nine  inches  for  the 
largest  to  three  inches  for  the  smallest  one,  and  dimin 
ishing,  also,  in  thickness,  from  nearly  an  inch  at  the 
centre  to  about  the  tenth  of  an  inch  at  the  brim,  for  the 
largest,  and  so  in  proportion  for  the  others ;  all  arranged 
upon  an  iron  spindle,  tapering  to  suit  the  size  of  the 
glasses,  and  passing  through  sockets  of  cork,  fitted  in 
the  openings  at  their  centres,  the  largest  glass  being 


THE    ARMONICA.  367 

placed  first  on  the  spindle,  the  next  in  size  placed  next, 
and  so  far  within  the  first  as  to  leave  about  an  inch  of 
rim  projecting,  and  accessible  to  the  finger;  and  so,  in 
regular  succession  of  sizes,  and  due  proportion  in  all 
respects,  with  the  others.  All  the  glasses  being  thus 
adjusted,  the  spindle,  projecting  a  few  inches  at  each 
end,  was  laid  horizontally  upon  brass  gudgeons  fitted  to 
a  frame,  supported  by  four  legs,  and  covered  with  a 
mahogany  case,  opening  and  shutting  like  that  of  a 
pianoforte.  At  the  larger  end,  outside  of  the  gudgeon 
and  the  case,  the  spindle  presented  a  square  shank,  to 
which  was  fitted  a  wheel  connected  with  a  treadle  under 
the  case,  by  means  of  which  the  performer  turned  the 
spindle  and  its  glasses  with  his  foot,  just  as  a  spinner 
turns  her  wheel.  A  good  deal  of  grinding  and  polishing 
was  necessary  to  bring  the  glasses  into  perfect  unison  ; 
a  cup  of  water  and  a  sponge  were  provided,  for  the  per 
former  to  wet  his  fingers  from  time  to  time ;  and,  in  or 
der  to  bring  out  the  finest  tones,  the  glasses  were  to  turn 
from,  not  toward,  the  ends  of  the  fingers. 

At  the  close  of  his  long  and  minute  letter  to  Beccaria, 
from  which  we  have  taken  only  such  particulars  as  were 
necessary  to  give  an  idea  of  the  instrument,  and  the  in 
genuity  displayed  in  its  construction,  Franklin,  speaking 
of  its  merits,  says  :  "  Its  tones  are  incomparably  sweet 
beyond  those  of  any  other  ;  they  may  be  swelled  and 
softened  at  pleasure,  by  stronger  or  weaker  pressures 
of  the  finger,  and  continued  to  any  length ;  and  the  in 
strument  being  once  well  tuned,  never  wants  tuning 
again  ;"  and  he  adds  :  "In  honor  of  your  musical  lan 
guage,  I  have  borrowed  from  it  the  name  of  this  instru 
ment,  calling  it  the  Armonica" 

Among  the  latest  public  testimonies  received  by  Frank 
lin,  during  his  present  sojourn  in  England,  of  the  high 
estimation  in  which  he  was  held,  was  the  degree  of  doctor 


368  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

of  laws  conferred  upon  him,  in  April,  1762,  by  the  uni 
versity  of  Oxford.  His  son,  also,  received  at  the  same 
time  the  degree  of  master  of  arts ;  and  was,  moreover, 
just  before  his  father  sailed  for  America,  appointed,  by 
the  king  in  council,  governor  of  New  Jersey.  This 
appointment  was  procured  through  the  influence  of  the 
earl  of  Bute,  who  was  then  the  favorite  minister  of  the 
young  king  George  III.,  and  who  was  moved  on  the  oc 
casion,  it  is  supposed,  by  his  physician,  Sir  John  Pringle, 
one  of  the  elder  Franklin's  friends  and  correspondents. 
From  a  letter  to  the  governor  of  Pennsylvania,  written 
a  few  months  after,  by  Thomas  Penn,  it  appears  that  the 
latter  cherished  some  expectation  that  this  appointment 
of  the  younger  Franklin  would  moderate,  if  not  remove, 
his  father's  opposition  to  the  Proprietary  policy  in  Penn 
sylvania  ;  for  in  that  letter  he  says  :  "  I  am  told  you  will 
find  Mr.  Franklin  more  tractable  ;  and  I  believe  we  shall, 
in  matters  of  prerogative,  as  his  son  must  obey  instruc 
tions,  and  what  he  is  ordered  to  do,  [in  Jersey,]  the  father 
can  not  well  oppose  in  Pennsylvania."  It  seems  to  have 
been  difficult  for  this  Proprietary  to  comprehend  the 
character  of  a  man  whose  public  conduct  was  guided 
solely  by  his  sense  of  justice  and  his  convictions  of  duty. 
At  all  events,  Franklin  adhered  to  his  principles  as 
steadfastly  as  ever,  and  continued  to  be  the  trusted 
champion  of  the  rights  of  the  people  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  the  object  of  the  bitterest  hostility  of  the  Proprietary 
and  his  unscrupulous  partisans. 

Before  leaving  England,  Franklin  wrote  his  farewell 
to  Mr.  Hume,  Lord  Kames,  and  other  eminent  friends 
in  Scotland.  In  his  letter  to  the  former,  written  on  the 
19th  of  May,  he  returns  the  compliment  respecting  wis 
dom  and  gold,  by  referring  to  the  unparalleled  plenty 
of  gold  and  silver  in  Jerusalem,  in  the  time  of  Solomon, 
as  a  type  of  the  abundance  of  wisdom  in  Britain ;  and 


FAREWELLS VOYAGE    HOME.  369 

closes  with  the  expression  of  his  regret,  to  use  his  own 
words,  "at  leaving  a  country  in  which  he  had  received  so 
much  friendship,  and  friends  whose  conversation  had 
been  so  agreeable  and  so  improving  to  him."  In  his  let 
ter  to  Lord  Kames,  written  at  Portsmouth,  on  the  17th 
of  August,  he  says  :  "  I  am  now  waiting  here  only  for  a 
wind  to  waft  me  to  America ;  but  I  can  not  leave  this 
happy  island  and  my  friends  in  it,  without  extreme  re 
gret,  though  I  am  going  to  a  country  and  a  people  that 
I  love.  I  am  going  from  the  old  world  to  the  new;  and 
I  fancy  I  feel  like  those  who  are  leaving  this  world  for 
the  next — grief  at  the  parting,  fear  for  the  passage,  hope 
of  the  future.  These  different  passions  all  affect  the 
mind  at  once,  and  they  have  tendered  me  down  exceed 
ingly."  After  referring,  in  terms  of  strong  commenda 
tion,  to  the  celebrated  work  of  Lord  Kames,  then  just 
published,  entitled  Elements  of  Criticism,  of  which  the 
author  had  sent  him  a  copy,  he  closes  as  follows : 
"  Wherever  I  am  I  shall  esteem  the  friendship  you  honor 
me  with,  as  one  of  the  felicities  of  my  life  ;  I  shall 
endeavor  to  cultivate  it  by  a  more  punctual  correspond 
ence  ;  and  I  hope  frequently  to  hear  of  your  welfare 
and  prosperity."  Not  many  days  after  the  date  of  this 
letter,  and  before  the  end  of  August,  Franklin  sailed  for 
America,  in  company  with  ten  merchant-ships  under 
convoy  of  a  man-of-war.  This  fleet  took  the  southern 
track,  and  touched  at  the  island  of  Madeira.  In  a  letter 
to  Lord  Kames,  written  after  returning  to  England  on 
his  second  mission,  he  gives  a  brief  account  of  this  pas 
sage,  in  the  following  words  : — 

"  We  had  a  pleasant  passage  to  Madeira,  where  we 
were  kindly  received  and  entertained  ;  our  nation  being 
then  in  high  honor  with  the  Portuguese,  on  account  of 
the  protection  we  were  then  affording  them  against 
France  and  Spain.  It  is  a  fertile  island,  and  the  differ- 


370  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

ent  heights  and  situations  among  its  mountains,  afford 
such  temperatures  of  air,  that  all  the  fruits  of  northern 
and  southern  countries  are  produced  there ;  wheat, 
apples,  grapes,  peaches,  oranges,  lemons,  plantains,  ba 
nanas,  and  so  forth.  Here  we  furnished  ourselves  with 
fresh  provisions  of  all  kinds  ;  and  after  a  few  days  pro 
ceeded  on  our  voyage,  running  southward  until  we  got 
into  the  trade-winds,  and  then  with  them  westward  till  we 
drew  near  the  coast  of  America.  The  weather  was  so 
favorable,  that  there  were  few  days  in  which  we  could  not 
visit  from  ship  to  ship,  dining  with  each  other,  and  on 
board  of  the  man-of-war  ;  which  made  the  time  pass 
much  more  agreeably  than  when  one  goes  in  a  single 
ship  ;  for  this  was  like  travelling  in  a  moving  village, 
with  all  one's  neighbors  in  company." 

He  reached  home  on  the  1st  of  November,  1762,  after 
an  absence  from  Philadelphia  of  a  little  less  than  six 
years.  He  found  his  wife  and  daughter  in  good  health ; 
"  the  latter,"  says  he  "  grown  quite  a  woman,  with  many 
amiable  accomplishments  acquired  in  my  absence ;  and 
my  friends  as  hearty  and  affectionate  as  ever,  with  whom 
my  house  was  filled  for  many  days,  to  congratulate  me 
on  my  return." 

His  son,  who  remained  behind  him  in  England  to  con 
summate,  with  his  father's  consent,  and  approbation," 
his  marriage  with  "  a  very  agreeable  West  India  lady, 
with  whom  he  was  very  happy,"  arrived  at  Philadelphia 
with  his  wife,  in  the  following  February  ;  and  after  a 
few  days  delay  at  home,  he  went,  accompanied  by  his 
father,  to  take  possession  of  his  office  as  governor  of 
New  Jersey.  "  He  met,"  says  Franklin,  "  with  the 
kindest  reception  from  people  of  all  ranks,  and  has  lived 
with  them  ever  since,  in  the  greatest  harmony." 


SERVICES    ACKNOWLEDGED.  371 


CHAPTER   XXIV. 

SERVICES    ACKNOWLEDGED JOURNEY    NORTH    AND    EAST 

MILITIA     BILL CONESTOGO      INDIANS IMBECILITY 

OF    GOVERNOR    PENN FRANKLIN  UPHOLDS    THE   PUBLIC 

AUTHORITY CONFUTES     HIS     ENEMIES HIS     SECOND 

MISSION    TO    ENGLAND ORIGIN    OF    THE    STAMP-ACT 

DEAN    TUCKER RECEPTION  OF  STAMP-ACT    IN    AMERICA 

EXAMINATION    BEFORE     THE     HOUSE     OF     COMMONS 

STAMP-ACT    REPEALED VALUE   OF  HIS   SERVICES OLD 

SCOTTISH    TUNES. 

FRANKLIN,  on  his  return  to  Philadelphia,  was  received, 
as  already  intimated,  with  the  strongest  demonstration 
of  respect  and  affection,  by  his  political  as  well  as  per 
sonal  friends.  During  his  absence  he  had  been,  every 
year  elected  as  one  of  the  representatives  of  the  city  to 
the  Provincial  Assembly  ;  and  as  that  body  was  in  ses 
sion  when  he  returned,  he  soon  took  his  seat  as  a  mem 
ber.  On  his  appearance  in  his  place,  the  house  pro 
ceeded  without  delay  to  the  consideration  of  his  agency  ; 
and  a  committee  having  been  raised  to  examine  his  ac 
counts,  unanimously  reported,  on  the  19th  of  February, 
1763,  that  they  had  found  them  to  be  just.  A  resolu 
tion  was  thereupon  unanimously  passed,  fixing  the  period 
of  his  agency  at  six  years,  and  granting  him  five  hun 
dred  pounds  sterling  a  year,  and  the  thanks  of  the 
house,  to  be  pronounced  by  the  speaker,  "  to  Benjamin 
Franklin,  for  his  many  services,  not  only  to  the  province 
of  Pennsylvania,  but  to  America  in  general,  during  his 


372  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

late  agency  at  the  court  of  Great  Britain."  These 
thanks  were  delivered  by  the  Speaker,  Mr.  Norris,  on 
the  31st  of  March;  to  which  says  the  journal  "Mr. 
Franklin,  respectfully  addressing  himself  to  the  Speaker, 
made  answer,  that  he  was  thankful  to  the  house  for  the 
very  handsome  and  generous  allowance  they  had  been 
pleased  to  make  him  for  his  services  ;  but  that  the  appro 
bation  of  this  house  was,  in  his  estimation,  far  above 
every  other  kind  of  recompense." 

In  the  course  of  the  same  spring,  Franklin  set  out  on 
a  tour  through  all  the  colonies  north  of  Pennsylvania, 
to  examine  and  regulate  the  postoffices.  In  that  jour 
ney  he  spent,  as  he  relates  in  one  of  his  letters,  the  sum 
mer  and  much  of  the  autumn,  travelled  about  sixteen 
hundred  miles,  and  did  not  return  to  Philadelphia  till 
the  beginning  of  November.  He  took  his  daughter 
with  him  ;  and  so  different  were  the  habits  of  that  time, 
from  those  of  the  present  age  of  steamboats  arid  rail 
roads,  that  the  young  lady,  as  Franklin  writes  to  a 
friend,  "  kept  to  her  saddle  the  greatest  part  of  the  jour 
ney,  and  was  well  pleased  with  her  tour." 

While  in  Boston,  Franklin  met  with  a  fall  which  dis 
located  his  shoulder  ;  and  though  the  joint  was  speedily 
and  properly  adjusted  again,  yet  it  gave  him  considera 
ble  pain,  and  so  much  disabled  him  from  driving,  or 
even  bearing  the  motion  of  his  carriage,  on  the  rough 
roads  of  that  day,  that  he  was  obliged  to  rest  awhile 
from  travelling.  It  appears  from  a  letter  to  his  sister, 
Mrs.  Mecom,  written  after  his  return  home,  and  it  may 
be  useful  to  mention  the  fact,  that  he  used  the  cold  bath 
frequently  and  with  benefit,  not  only  to  his  weakened 
limb,  but  as  a  general  tonic.  The  same  letter  has  a  pas 
sage,  which  we  copy  for  the  sake  of  the  shrewd,  and  yet 
good-humored  notice  it  takes,  of  the  annoyance  frequently 
given  by  a  well-meant,  but  a  too  busy  arid  officious  hos- 


CONDITION    OF    THE    PROVINCE.  373 

pi  tali  ty.  After  referring  to  some  little  remaining  weak 
ness  in  his  shoulder,  he  adds  :  "  I  am  otherwise  very 
happy  in  being  at  home,  where  I  am  allowed  to  know 
when  I  have  eat  enough,  and  drank  enough,  am  warm 
enough,  and  sit  in  a  place  that  I  like,  and  nobody  knows 
how  I  feel  better  than  I  do  myself." 

Notwithstanding  the  decision,  which  Franklin  had 
obtained  from  the  Privy  Council,  that  the  estates  of  the 
Proprietaries  were  subject  to  taxation  in  the  same  man 
ner  as  all  other  property  in  the  province,  yet  that  decis 
ion  did  not  restore  harmony  to  the  provincial  govern 
ment.  The  Proprietaries  claimed  other  exclusive  priv 
ileges  and  prerogatives,  and  their  defeat  on  the  great 
point  of  equal  taxation,  served  only  to  exasperate  them, 
and  their  partisans  the  more,  particularly  against  Frank 
lin,  through  whose  exertions  they  had  been  discomfited; 
and  as  he  continued  to  exert  his  great  abilities  in  behalf 
of  impartial  legislation,  and  the  rights  of  the  people, 
with  unswerving  constancy  as  well  as  marked  success,  he 
became,  more  conspicuously  than  ever,  the  object  of  an 
enmity,  which  was  envenomed  by  envy,  and  was  mani 
fested  by  the  most  unscrupulous  misrepresentations  of 
his  conduct,  and  the  most  calumnious  attacks  upon  his 
character.  He  met  this  hostility,  however,  with  steady 
self-possession  and  firmness.  He  confuted  the  calumnies 
of  his  enemies,  and  went  on  discharging  his  public  du 
ties,  maintaining  the  cause  of  law  and  order,  and  at  the 
same  time  defending  popular  rights,  against  proprietary 
usurpation,  with  unabated  zeal.  And,  indeed,  to  such  a 
condition  had  the  provincial  administration  now  become 
reduced,  through  the  imbecility  and  mismanagement  of 
the  present  governor,  (John  Penn,  nephew  of  Thomas,  the 
principal  Proprietary,)  and  the  recklessness  of  the  lead 
ing  demagogues  of  his  party,  that  insurrection,  riot,  mur 
der,  and  confusion,  prevailed  so  widely  in  the  province, 
32 


374  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

and  the  civil  authority  had  become  so  nearly  powerless, 
that  the  governor  was  placed  under  the  humiliating 
necessity  of  looking  to  Franklin  for  support.  A  brief 
statement  of  facts  will  illustrate  what  has  just  been  said. 
Though  the  war  between  Great  Britain  and  France, 
had  been  terminated  by  the  treaty  of  Paris,  in  February, 
1763,  yet  the  Indian  tribes,  in  the  French  interest,  still 
continued  hostile,  and  making  frequent  bloody  inroads 
upon  the  back  settlements,  spread  terror  throughout  the 
western  frontiers,  which  had  been  left  almost  totally  de 
fenceless,  upon  the  withdrawal  of  the  regular  forces. 
The  Pennsylvania  frontier  was  particularly  exposed  to 
this  savage  warfare ;  and  to  furnish  the  protection  due 
to  the  inhabitants  in  that  quarter,  money  was  granted  by 
the  Assembly,  to  raise  and  pay  troops,  and  furnish  them 
with  all  necessary  supplies  ;  and  Franklin  was  placed  in 
the  board  of  commissioners,  appointed  to  direct  and  su 
perintend  the  expenditure  of  this  money. 

As  Pennsylvania  had  no  permanently-enrolled  and 
organized  militia,  it  became  necessary  to  raise  a  mili 
tary  force  for  every  emergency  as  it  arose  ;  and  to  do  so, 
on  this  occasion,  the  Assembly  promptly  passed  a  bill 
for  the  purpose.  That  bill  gave  to  each  company,  to  be 
recruited  under  it,  the  right  to  nominate  nine  persons,  or 
three  for  each  of  the  offices  of  captain,  lieutenant,  and 
ensign,  from  which  number,  the  governor  was  to  select 
the  individuals  he  might  prefer,  and  commission  them. 
The  companies  of  a  regiment  being  thus  organized,  their 
officers  were  to  meet,  and  nominate  three  persons  for 
eachjof  the  regimental  officers,  and  the  governor  was  to 
make  his  own  selection,  and  bestow  his  commissions,  as 
in  the  other  case.  The  bill  also  provided  moderate  fines 
for  neglect  of  duty,  arid  what  was  deemed  far  more  im 
portant  than  all  the  rest,  enacted  that  all  offences  com 
mitted  in  this  temporary  body  of  troops,  should  be  tried 


MILITIA    BILL.  375 

according  to  the  usual  course  of  law,  by  a  civil  court 
and  jury. 

To  this  bill  the  governor  refused  his  assent,  unless  the 
Assembly  would  amend  it,  by  giving  to  him  alone  the 
unrestricted  authority  to  designate,  as  well  as  commis 
sion  every  one  of  the  officers  —  by  increasing  the  fines 
threefold,  and  in  some  instances  fivefold  —  and  by  substi 
tuting  for  civil  courts  and  juries,  courts-martial,  to  be 
called  and  constituted  by  himself  alone,  for  the  trial  of 
any  and  every  offence,  great  and  small,  with  power  not 
only  to  impose  fines,  but  to  inflict  sentence  of  death. 
These  amendments  gave  such  unlimited  power  to  the 
governor,  and  were  so  abhorrent  to  the  principles  and 
feelings  of  the  Assembly,  especially  as  applicable  to  the 
kind  of  troops  to  be  raised,  that  "  the  house,"  says 
Franklin,  "  could  by  no  means  consent  to  give  up  the 
liberty,  estates,  and  lives  of  their  constituents,  to  the 
absolute  power  of  a  proprietary  governor;  and  so  the 
bill  failed." 

Thus,  through  the  perverse  temper,  and  inordinate 
demands  of  the  governor,  the  Assembly  was  not  permit 
ted  to  employ  the  strength  and  means  of  the  province 
for  its  defence  against  dangers  from  without ;  while 
within,  through  the  prevalence  of  a  partisan  spirit  in  a 
dependent  and  unfaithful  judiciary  and  magistracy,  the 
laws  had  become  so  powerless,  that  many  good  citizens, 
whose  lives  had  been  threatened,  for  their  endeavors  to 
procure  the  regular  and  honest  administration  of  justice, 
fled  the  province. 

One  of  the  most  shocking  proofs  of  this  state  of  law 
less  anarchy,  is  presented  in  a  narrative,  drawn  up  by 
Franklin,  in  1764,  of  the  fate  of  a  small  remnant  of  In 
dians,  called  the  Conestogos,  from  the  name  of  their 
residence  in  the  county  of  Lancaster.  Their  tribe  had 
once  belonged  to  the  famous  confederacy  of  The  Six 


376  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

Nations,  but  their  friendship  for  the  white  man,  had 
severed  the  connection.  In  the  days  of  their  prosperity, 
"  on  the  first  arrival  of  the  English  in  Pennsylvania," 
says  Franklin,  "  messengers  from  this  tribe,  came  to 
welcome  them,  with  presents  of  venison,  corn,  and 
skins  ;"  and  it  was  with  this  tribe,  as  being  the  nearest 
to  the  new-comers,  that  William  Penn  made  his  first 
treaty  —  a  treaty  which  had  often  been  renewed  and 
never  violated,  till  the  time  in  question.  As  their  lands 
and  numbers  diminished,  and  the  white  settlers  pressed 
more  closely  and  densely  around  them,  a  tract  called  the 
manor  of  Conestogo,  was  set  apart  for  their  exclusive 
occupation,  and  there  they  had  dwelt  unmolested,  deri 
ving  a  comfortable  subsistence  from  their  rude  tillage, 
and  their  simple  handicraft,  in  peace  and  friendship  with 
their  white  neighbors,  till  near  the  close  of  1763,  when 
their  number  had  dwindled  to  twenty  persons,  consist 
ing  of  seven  men,  five  women,  and  eight  children  of 
both  sexes. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  these  harmless  people,  when 
on  the  morning  of  the  14th  of  December,  1763,  six  of 
them,  three  men,  two  women,  and  a  boy,  (the  rest  of 
them  being  out  among  the  neighboring  white  families, 
selling  their  baskets  and  other  wares,)  were  murdered  in 
cold  blood,  and  their  huts  burnt,  by  a  party  of  fifty-sev 
en  white  men  from  the  frontiers.  This  outrage  caused 
great  excitement  among  the  white  people  of  the  vicin 
ity  ;  and  the  magistrates  of  Lancaster  had  the  surviving 
Indians  brought  into  that  town  and  lodged  in  the  work 
house  as  a  place  of  security.  Governor  Penn,  also, 
issued  a  proclamation  calling  on  all  magistrates,  sheriffs, 
and  other  officers  both  civil  and  military,  and  all  good 
subjects,  to  aid  with  their  best  diligence  in  discovering, 
and  bringing  the  murderers  to  justice. 

The  above  proclamation  was   issued  on  the  22d  of 


MASSACRE    OF    THE    CONESTOGOS.  377 

December,  but  it  had  scarcely  got  into  circulation,  when, 
on  the  27th  of  the  same  month,  fifty  of  the  bloodthirsty 
band  against  whom  it  was  levelled  had  the  audacity  to 
appear  in  Lancaster,  mounted  and  armed  as  before;  and 
going  to  the  workhouse,  broke  in  and  murdered  the  re 
maining  Indians  while  on  their  knees  protesting  their 
friendship  for  the  whites  and  begging  for  mercy.  This 
second  act  of  diabolical  ferocity  was  perpetrated  in  open 
day,  in  the  face  of  the  community,  in  defiance  and  con 
tempt  of  the  law  and  its  ministers,  and  the  murderers 
mounted  and  rode  off  unmolested. 

Another  proclamation  was  put  forth  by  the  governor, 
offering  a  reward  of  two  hundred  pounds  for  the  appre 
hension  and  conviction  of  any  three  of  the  ringleaders 
of  the  band,  and  a  pardon  to  any  accomplice,  not  actually 
guilty  of  murder,  who  would  discover  any  one  of  the 
principals  and  assist  in  convicting  him. 

So  weak,  however,  was  the  government,  so  prostrate 
was  the  civil  authority,  and  so  generally  was  society  dis 
ordered,  that  the  proclamations  effected  nothing  The 
threats  of  the  murderers  against  all  who  should  openly 
condemn  their  acts,  spread  such  terror  through  a  large 
section  of  the  province,  that  no  one  ventured  to  disclose 
by  speech  or  writing  what  he  knew.  And  this  was  not 
all.  A  company  of  one  hundred  and  forty  Indians  of 
another  tribe  having  been  converted  to  Christianity  by 
the  Moravians,  had  detached  themselves  from  their  tribe, 
which  was  then  hostile  to  the  whites,  and  were  living 
quietly  within  the  province.  From  the  same  quarter  to 
which  the  murderers  of  the  Conestogos  belonged,  came 
forth  threats  against  the  lives  of  these  converts  ;  and  so 
well  founded  was  the  alarm  thus  excited,  that,  after  sev 
eral  efforts  to  place  them  out  of  danger  in  other  places, 
the  whole  company  was  finally  taken  to  Philadelphia  to 
insure  their  safety. 
32* 


378  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

In  such  a  state  of  things  it  was  that  Franklin  issued 
the  narrative  already  mentioned,  in  which  he  placed  the 
facts  in  so  clear  a  light,  denounced,  in  such  bold  and  in 
dignant  language,  the  outrages  committed  and  threatened, 
as  a  reproach  and  disgrace  to  the  public  authorities  and 
the  whole  province,  that  the  humanity,  self-respect,  pub 
lic  spirit,  and  honor  of  the  people  and  the  government 
to  which  he  appealed,  were  at  length  roused  to  some 
sense  of  duty,  and  all  seemed  disposed,  for  a  time  at  least, 
in  Philadelphia  and  the  more  populous  districts  in  its 
neighborhood,  to  make  an  effort  to  uphold  the  laws  and 
restore  order  and  security. 

Still,  such  was  the  incompetency  of  the  governor,  that 
his  own  protection  and  that  of  the  Indian  converts  was 
devolved  in  fact  on  Franklin  ;  for  when  a  large  body  of 
the  armed  insurgents,  to  quote  his  language,  "marched 
toward  the  capital,  in  defiance  of  the  government,  with 
an  avowed  resolution  to  put  to  death  the  one  hundred 
and  forty  Indian  converts  then  under  its  protection,"  the 
governor  appealed  to  him  for  assistance.  Franklin  prompt 
ly  answered  this  appeal,  and  as  there  was  no  militia  in 
the  province,  he  adopted  his  former  method  of  proceed 
ing,  when  public  danger  was  impending,  and  raised  and 
organized  a  volunteer  corps  of  a  thousand  men  for  the 
defence  of  the  government.  Indeed,  Governor  Penn 
found  it  expedient  to  make  his  headquarters  at  Frank 
lin's  house,  arid  to  act  wholly  by  his  advice. 

When  the  insurgents  found  that  preparation  was  thus 
made  to  meet  force  with  force,  they  began  to  falter.  Ta 
king  advantage  of  their  hesitation,  Franklin  with  three 
other  persons  went,  at  the  request  of  the  governor  and 
council,  to  confer  with  them  ;  and  the  result  was,  that 
they  were  induced  to  abandon  their  enterprise  and  re 
turn  home. 

But,  notwithstanding  services  like  these,  the  governor, 


PERVERSITY  OP  THE  GOVERNOR.          379 

as  soon  as  the  immediate  danger  was  over,  returned  to 
his  perverse  policy  and  his  old  party  connections.  The 
expenses,  consequent  upon  these  proceedings  and  the 
defence  of  the  back  settlements  against  the  inroads  of 
the  banded  tribes  of  hostile  Indians,  were  heavy,  and  to 
meet  them  the  Assembly  passed  a  bill  to  raise  fifty  thou 
sand  pounds,  in  the  usual  way,  by  issuing  bills  of  credit, 
to  be  redeemed  by  specific  revenues  raised  by  certain 
excises  and  a  land-tax.  This  latter  tax  was  made  by 
Governor  Penn  the  occasion  of  another  quarrel  with  the 
Assembly.  The  decision  of  the  privy  council,  which  had 
declared  the  proprietary  estates  subject  to  taxation  like 
all  other  property  in  the  province,  was  accompanied,  as 
we  have  seen,  by  some  other  directions  designed  to  give 
greater  precision  to  the  acts  of  the  Assembly,  and  among 
them  was  one  that  the  uncultivated  but  actually  located 
lands  of  the  Proprietaries  should  "  not  be  assessed  higher 
than  the  lowest  rate  at  which  any  located  uncultivated 
lands  belonging  to  the  inhabitants  should  be  assessed." 
The  Assembly  interpreted  this  as  a  direction  that  the 
proprietary  lands  of  the  class  in  question  should  be  as 
sessed  at  the  same  rates  with  similar  lands  of  other  peo 
ple,  of  like  quality  and  value  ;  while  the  governor  insist 
ed  that,  under  it,  the  very  best  of  the  proprietary  lands 
referred  to  could  be  assessed  no  higher  than  the  lowest 
assessment  of  the  poorest  lands  of  the  same  class  belong 
ing  to  others. 

The  Assembly  urged  that  the  decision  of  the  council  was 
expressly  intended  to  establish  equal  taxation  of  all  lands 
of  equal  value  ;  that  the  governor's  interpretation  of  the 
clause  in  question  was  a  forced  and  unjust  one,  and  was, 
in  fact,  in  violation  of  the  essential  point  of  the  decision, 
inasmuch  as  it  was  palpably  repugnant  to  the  principle  of 
equality.  But  the  governor  persisted  ;  and  after  a  good 
deal  of  controversy,  the  Assembly,  moved  by  the  pres- 


380  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

sure  of  the  public  exigency  and  by  a  humane  feeling  for 
the  sufferings  of  the  people  on  the  frontier,  gave  way  and 
passed  the  act  as  required  by  the  governor. 

This  affair,  however,  only  served  to  strengthen  the 
majority  of  the  Assembly  and  of  their  constituents  in  the 
conviction  that  no  just  and  fair  legislation  was  to  be  ex 
pected,  as  long  as  the  government  remained  in  the  hands 
of  the  Proprietaries.  They  therefore  adopted,  just  at 
the  close  of  the  session,  a  series  of  resolutions,  setting 
forth  the  evils  inflicted  on  the  people  of  the  province  by 
the  proprietary  government,  and  declaring  that  no  just 
and  useful  administration  of  public  affairs  could  be  ex 
pected,  till  their  political  power  was  taken  from  them  and 
transferred  directly  to  the  king.  Having  passed  these 
resolutions,  the  Assembly  adjourned. 

During  the  winter  and  spring,  Franklin  published  an 
able  exposition  of  the  defects  of  the  existing  form  of  gov 
ernment,  in  which  he  fortified  his  position  by  reference  to 
the  other  proprietary  governments  in  America  ;  showing 
that,  in  every  case,  the  continual  controversies  they  had 
generated  and  the  evils  which  had  uniformly  flowed  from 
them,  had  "  found  no  relief  but  in  finally  recurring  to  the 
immediate  government  of  the  crown  ;"  so  that  those  of 
Maryland  and  Pennsylvania  were  the  only  two  of  the 
kind  remaining.  This  pamphlet  was  entitled  "  Cool 
ThougJits  on  the  Present  Situation  of  Public  Affairs"  — 
and  it  made  a  strong  impression,  preparatory,  as  it  was 
intended  to  be,  to  the  meeting  of  the  Assembly  in  May, 
1764. 

The  meeting  in  May  took  place  on  the  14th  of  the 
month  ;  and  on  the  26th,  Mr.  N orris,  who  had  been  speak 
er  of  the  Assembly  for  a  long  series  of  years,  resigned  his 
station,  on  account  of  the  feeble  state  of  his  health,  and 
Franklin  was  chosen  in  his  place.  He  had,  however, 
previously  drawn  and  introduced  a  petition  to  the  king, 


PETITION   TO    THE    KING.  381 

asking,  in  the  name  of  "the  representatives  of  the  free 
men  of  the  province  of  Pennsylvania  in  General  Assem 
bly  met,"  for  the  contemplated  change  in  the  form  of 
government;  and  the  petition,  backed  as  it  was  by  many 
resolutions  to  the  same  effect,  sent  up  to  the  house  from 
meetings  of  the  people  in  all  quarters  of  the  province, 
became  at  once  the  leading  subject  of  the  session.  Af 
ter  a  long  and  warm  debate,  in  the  course  of  which  the 
champions  of  the  proprietary  party  assailed  Franklin 
with  the  bitterest  invective,  the  petition  was  carried  by  a 
large  majority. 

The  document  was  brief  and  directly  to  the  point.  It 
set  forth  that  controversies  were  perpetually  arising  be 
tween  the  proprietary  governors  and  the  .Assembly,  as 
the  direct  consequence  of  the  clashing  between  the  pri 
vate  interests  of  the  Proprietaries  and  their  duties  as  the 
trustees  of  political  power ;  that  these  controversies,  as 
long  experience  had  shown,  were  continually  impeding 
the  public  service ;  that  the  government  had  become  so 
factious  and  weak  that  it  was  unable  to  maintain  its  au 
thority,  or  preserve  the  internal  peace  of  the  province, 
which  was  thus  filled  with  riot  and  insurrection  from 
armed  mobs  committing  their  outrages  with  impunity; 
and  that  there  was  no  prospect  of  relief  from  these  evils 
but  from  the  king's  taking  the  government  of  the  prov 
ince  into  his  own  hands,  making  an  equitable  compensa 
tion  to  the  Proprietaries,  pursuant  to  the  contract  of  the 
original  grantee. 

The  contract  referred  to  in  the  petition  was  made  by 
William  Penn  himself,  who,  long  before  his  death,  hav 
ing  become  entirely  convinced  that  the  permanent  wel 
fare  of  his  province  required  him  to  divest  himself  and 
his  successors  of  all  the  political  powers  conferred  by 
the  original  grant  from  the  king,  had  not  only  determined 
to  cany  that  contract  into  effect,  but  had  actually  re- 


382  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

ceived  part  of  the  consideration  to  which  it  entitled  him, 
and  had  provided,  in  his  last  will  and  testament,  for  the 
complete  fulfilment  of  it  by  his  heirs,  in  case  he  should  die 
(as  he  did)  before  its  consummation.  The  petition,  there 
fore,  was  not  only  founded  in  political  justice,  but  it  did  not 
infringe  in  any  respect  on  the  private  rights  of  the  Pro 
prietaries,  who  were  themselves,  in  truth,  the  only  party 
against  whom  could  be  fairly  brought  the  charge  of  vio 
lated  faith,  in  reference  to  the  obligations  imposed  either 
by  the  provincial  constitution,  or  by  the  personal  and 
transmitted  covenants  of  its  founder. 

Of  the  members  of  the  Assembly  who  opposed  the  pe 
tition  and  defended  the  Proprietaries,  the  most  eminent 
was  John  Dickinson,  who  in  later  years  acquired  a  higher 
reputation  in  a  better  cause,  both  as  a  member  of  the  first 
Continental  Congress  and  as  the  author  of  the  celebrated 
"Farmer's  Letters"  Shortly  after  the  termination^  of 
the  debate,  Mr.  Dickinson's  speech  was  published  with 
an  elaborate  prefatory  discourse  on  the  same  side  of  the 
question.  The  ablest  debater  on  the  other  side  was  Jo 
seph  Galloway,  an  eminent  lawyer,  who,  in  his  reply  to 
the  speech  of  Mr.  Dickinson,  reviewed  at  much  length 
and  with  distinguished  ability  the  defects  of  the  proprie 
tary  government,  the  vices  of  its  administration,  and  the 
unhappy  condition  to  which  it  had  reduced  the  province. 
On  the  appearance  of  Mr.  Dickinson's  speech  with  its 
accompanient,  Franklin,  who,  with  all  his  ability  as  a 
writer,  never  figured  as  a  debater,  published  Mr.  Gallo 
way's  speech,  with  a  preface  from  his  own  pen,  remark 
ing,  in  his  opening  paragraph,  that  he  did  so,  not  because 
Mr.  Dickinson's  speech  appeared  with  a  preface,  but  be 
cause  that  preface  contained  aspersions  upon  former  As 
semblies,  and  misrepresentations  of  their  proceedings, 
demanding  animadversion  and  correction.  And  truly, 
these  were  vigorously  administered.  He  refuted  the 


PARTY    COJS'TEST.  383 

statements  of  the  Proprietaries  and  their  partisans,  ex 
posed  the  unworthy  selfishness  and  injustice  of  their  pol 
icy,  their  contradictory  pretensions,  the  factious  and  merce 
nary  character  of  their  administration,  and  vindicated  the 
Assemblies  assailed,  with  proofs  drawn  from  public  doc 
uments  and  notorious  facts  presented  by  the  condition 
of  the  province.  To  borrow  the  appropriate  words  of 
the  recent  able  editor  of  his  works,  "  For  sarcastic  humor, 
point,  and  strength  of  argument,  this  preface  is  one  of  the 
best  of  his  performances." 

The  legal  term  of  the  Assembly  which  voted  the  peti 
tion  ended  in  September;  and  at  the  session  which  closed 
with  its  dissolution,  information  was  received  that  the 
British  cabinet  entertained  the  design  of  raising  a  reve 
nue  in  the  colonies  by  a  tax  on  stamps.  This  intelli 
gence  instantly  produced  great  excitement  in  Pennsyl 
vania,  as  in  the  other  colonies,  and  Franklin's  last  signa 
ture  as  speaker  was  put  to  a  resolution  of  the  house, 
instructing  their  agent  in  London,  Richard  Jackson,  to 
remonstrate  against  the  contemplated  tax  as  a  violation 
of  the  rights  of  the  colonies. 

At  the  election  which  shortly  followed,  Franklin,  who 
had  been  chosen,  whether  absent  or  at  home,  one  of  the 
representatives  of  the  city  of  Philadelphia  for  fourteen 
successive  years,  was  defeated  by  the  unexampled  exer 
tions  and  corrupt  means  employed  by  the  Proprietary 
party.  The  majority  against  him,  however,  was  only  twen 
ty-five  votes  in  four  thousand.  Even  that  was  but  a  bar 
ren  victory ;  for  when  the  new  Assembly  met  in  October, 
it  showed  a  decisive  majority  in  favor  of  the  petition  for 
a  change  of  government ;  and  resolving  to  press  the  meas 
ure  with  their  utmost  energy,  they  proceeded  on  the  26th 
of  the  month  just  named  to  appoint  Franklin  their  agent, 
with  instructions  to  depart  for  England  with  all  conve 
nient  despatch,  to  lay  the  petition  before  the  king  in 


384  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

council,  and  use  his  best  efforts  to   obtain  the  change 
prayed  for. 

The  Proprietary  minority  in  the  house  were  so  chafed 
by  this  result,  that  they  threw  off  the  restraints,  not  merely 
of  ordinary  decorum,  but  of  common  discretion  ;  and  in 
a  paper,  which  they  styled  "A  Protest  against  the  Ap 
pointment  of  Mr.  Franldin  as  Agent  for  the  Province  of 
Pennsylvania"  they  assailed  both  the  agent  and  the  ma 
jority  of  the  Assembly  with  such  extravagant  abuse 
grounded  on  such  gross  misrepresentation  of  facts,  that 
it  served,  naturally  and  justly,  to  weaken  their  own 
cause,  while  it  strengthened  that  of  the  people,  and  aug 
mented  the  influence  of  their  ablest  and  most  distin 
guished  leader.  This  effect  was  not  a  little  enhanced  by 
the  reply  of  that  leader,  issued  just  as  he  was  on  the 
point  of  sailing  for  England,  under  the  title  of  "•'Remarks 
on  a  Late  Protest,  fyc."  No  reply,  in  the  way  of  either 
defence  or  retort,  was  ever  more  triumphant  than  this. 
He  took  a  rapid  review  of  the  charges  put  forth  in  the 
protest,  of  his  own  public  acts,  of  the  course  of  the  Pro 
prietaries  and  their  partisans,  of  the  inconsistency  of  their 
conduct,  the  hypocrisy  of  their  professions,  and  sustained 
himself  not  only  by  the  public  records  and  journals  of 
the  Assembly,  but,  on  several  points  in  reference  to 
which  the  attack  had  manifested  peculiar  malignity,  by 
written  testimony  on  file  from  his  assailants  themselves ; 
and  all  this  with  a  clearness  of  exposition,  a  complete 
ness  of  proof,  a  directness  and  pertinency  in  the  applica 
tion  of  facts,  and  a  pungency  of  retort,  in  all  respects  as 
conclusive  in  point  of  argument,  as  the  style  and  manner 
of  the  whole  were  admirably  adapted  to  the  occasion. 
Franklin  closes  this  most  successful  vindication  of  him 
self  and  his  friends  in  the  Assembly  in  the  following  im 
pressive  words  :  "I  am  now  to  take  leave  (perhaps  a 
last  leave)  of  the  country  I  love,  arid  in  which  I  have 


SECOND    MISSION.  385 

spent  the  greatest  part  of  my  life.  Esto  perpetua.  I 
wish  every  kind  of  prosperity  to  my  friends :  and  I  for 
give  my  enemies." 

The  times  were  now  beginning  to  deepen  in  gloom. 
The  course  pursued  by  the  Proprietaries  and  their  lead 
ing  partisans  had  reduced  Pennsylvania  to  a  disturbed, 
distempered,  and  unhappy  condition ;  and  the  usurping 
and  tyrannical  policy  of  the  British  government  began 
to  lower  across  the  Atlantic  and  menace  the  dearest 
rights  and  privileges  of  the  American  colonies.  To 
show  something  of  the  aspects  of  the  political  horizon  — 
something  of  the  anxiety  with  which  thoughtful  and  ear 
liest  men  were  beginning  to  ruminate  upon  the  future, 
as  well  as  something  of  the  estimation  in  which  Frank 
lin's  abilities,  weight  of  character,  and  services,  were 
held  by  sober-minded  patriots  —  the  following  testimony 
from  a  competent  and  impartial  witness,  given  at  a  later 
day,  will  be  read  with  interest :  "  This  second  embassy 
of  Franklin,"  said  Dr.  Smith,  the  head  of  the  college  at 
Philadelphia,  "  appears  to  have  been  a  measure  preor 
dained  by  the  counsels  of  Heaven  ;  and  it  will  be  for  ever 
remembered  to  the  honor  of  Pennsylvania,  that  the  agent 
selected  to  assort  and  defend  the  rights  of  a  single  prov 
ince,  at  the  court  of  Great  Britain,  became  the  bold  as- 
sertor  of  the  rights  of  America  in  general ;  and,  behold 
ing  the  fetters  that  were  forging  for  her,  conceived  the 
magnanimous  thought  of  rending  them  asunder  before 
they  could  be  riveted." 

The  Assembly,  when  they  appointed  their  agent,  hav 
ing  no  money  at  their  disposal,  voted  that  they  would 
provide  for  the  expenses  of  the  mission  in  their  next 
public-money  bill.  On  the  faith  of  that  vote,  the  sum 
immediately  needed  was  supplied  by  the  public-spirited 
merchants  of  Philadelphia  ;  and  on  the  7th  of  November, 
Franklin  left  home,  escorted  by  a  cavalcade  of  three  hun- 
33 


386  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

dred  of  his  townsmen  and  friends,  for  Chester,  sixteen 
miles  below,  where  he  embarked.  The  next  day  the 
ship  proceeded  to  Newcastle  to  take  in  some  live  stock 
for  the  passage,  which  done,  she  dropped  down  as  far  as 
Reedy  island  ;  and  the  last  letter  written  by  Franklin 
before  leaving  the  shores  of  his  native  land,  was  dated  at 
"Reedy  island,  7  at  night,  8th  November,  1764."  It 
was  addressed  to  his  daughter,  and  is  full  of  tenderness 
and  wise  counsel.  His  sensibility  had  been  deeply  moved 
by  the  warm  rally  of  his  friends  about  him,  after  the 
virulence  exhibited  by  his  political  enemies,  and  he  says 
to  her  :  "  The  affectionate  leave  taken  of  me  by  so  many 
friends,  at  Chester,  was  very  endearing.  God  bless  them 
and  all  Pennsylvania."  Though  "  the  natural  prudence 
and  goodness  of  heart  God  had  blessed  her  with,"  as  he 
affectionately  says  to  her,  "  make  it  less  necessary  to  be 
particular  in  giving  you  advice,"  yet,  says  he,  "  the  more 
attentively  dutiful  and  tender  you  are  toward  your  good 
mother,  the  more  will  you  recommend  yourself  to  me;" 
adding  —  "but  why  should  I  mention  me,  when  you  have 
so  much  higher  a  promise,  in  the  commandments,  that 
such  conduct  will  recommend  you  to  the  favor  of  God  T' 
Adverting  to  his  political  enemies,  he  exports  her  to  pe 
culiar  circumspection,  that  she  might  give  them  no  pre 
text  for  their  watchful  malevolence  "  to  magnify  her 
slightest  indiscretions  into  crimes,"  in  order  to  wound 
Jiim  through  her.  He  enjoins  it  upon  her  to  be  constant 
in  her  attendance  upon  Divine  worship,  less  for  the  sake 
of  the  preacher,  or  the  sermon,  than  for  the  devotional 
exercises,  the  more  important  part  of  the  service,  be 
cause  more  efficacious  in  fostering  piety  and  "  amending 
the  heart,  than  sermons"  usually  are ;  though  he  would 
not  have  her  undervalue  sermons  even  from  unacceptable 
preachers,  for  "  the  discourse  is  often  better  than  the  man, 
as  sweet  and  clear  waters  come  through  very  dirty  earth." 


FAREWELL    AND    ARRIVAL.  387 

He  desires  her  also  "  to  acquire  those  useful  accomplish 
ments,  arithmetic  and  book-keeping  ;"  and  in  closing,  he 
implores  for  her  "  the  blessing  of  God,  worth  thousands 
of  his,  though  his  would  never  be  wanting." 

On  the  9th  of  December,  in  the  afternoon,  the  ship  in 
which  Franklin  sailed  dropped  anchor  off  Spithead  ;  and 
the  same  waters,  which  he  had  visited  thirty-eight  years 
before,  as  an  obscure  young  journeyman  printer  trans 
formed  for  a  short  while  to  a  merchant's  clerk,  he  now,  for 
the  first  time  since  that  period,  again  visited,  on  a  diplo 
matic  mission  to  the  court  of  a  great  empire,  intrusted 
with  the  rights  and  liberties  of  a  rising  commonwealth, 
and  as  a  philosopher  who  had  filled  all  Christendom  with 
his  fame.  In  a  brief  letter  to  his  wife,  written  before 
landing,  to  inform  her  of  his  safe  arrival,  he  says  :  "  We 
have  had  terrible  weather,  and  I  have  often  been  thank 
ful  that  our  dear  Sally  was  not  with  me.  Tell  our  friends 
who  dined  with  us  on  the  turtle,  that  the  kind  prayer  they 
then  put  up  for  thirty  days'  fair  wind  to  me,  was  favora 
bly  heard  and  answered,  we  being  just  thirty  days  from 
land  to  land."  From  Portsmouth,  where  he  went  ashore, 
Franklin  proceeded  without  delay  to  London,  and  on  ar 
riving  there  he  went  immediately  to  his  former  lodgings 
at  Mrs.  Stevenson's,  No.  7  Craven  street.  This  event 
gave  the  people  of  Pennsylvania  the  liveliest  gratifica 
tion.  Cadwallader  Evans,  in  a  letter  to  him,  dated  at 
Philadelphia,  March  15,  1765,  says:  "A  vessel  from 
Ireland  to  New  York  brought  us  the  most  agreeable 
news  of  your  safe  arrival  in  London,  which  occasioned 
a  great  and  general  joy  in  Pennsylvania  among  those 
whose  esteem  an  honest  man  would  value  most.  The 
bells  rang  on  that  account  till  near  midnight,  and  liba 
tions  were  poured  out  for  your  health,  success,  and  eveiy 
other  happiness." 

When,  in  September,  1764,  as  we  have  already  seen, 


388  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

information  of  the  design  of  the  British  Parliament  to 
raise  a  revenue  in  the  colonies  by  laying  a  tax  on  stamped 
paper  which  was  to  be  made  necessary  to  the  validity  of 
all  written  contracts,  reached  the  Assembly  of  Pennsylva 
nia,  that  body,  Franklin  being  then  its  speaker,  promptly 
sent  instructions  to  Richard  Jackson,  their  general  agent 
in  London,  to  oppose  the  contemplated  measure.  When, 
shortly  after,  Franklin  was  sent  on  his  present  mission, 
besides  the  special  instructions  relating  to  it,  he  was  also 
directed,  as  were  the  other  colonial  agents,  to  use  his  best 
efforts  to  prevent  the  passage  of  the  stamp-act. 

Of  the  origin  of  this  famous  measure,  and  of  his  own 
course  in  opposing  it,  Franklin  has  left  a  clear  and  in 
teresting  account  in  a  letter  written  by  him,  in  1778, 
while  he  was  residing  at  Paris  as  minister  of  the  United 
States  to  the  court  of  France.  The  letter  was  addressed 
to  William  Alexander,  who  had  sent  to  Franklin  a  pam 
phlet  relating  to  the  subject  and  containing  some  material 
misstatements.  It  stated,  among  other  things,  that  when 
Mr.  Grenville,  then  the  British  prime  minister,  conceived 
the  design  of  raising  a  revenue  in  the  colonies,  his  first 
plan  was  to  demand  of  them  a  specific  sum,  to  be  levied 
by  them  in  such  manner  as  they  might  think  fit ;  but  that 
they  refused  to  grant  anything,  and  that  in  consequence  of 
that  refusal,  he  brought  forward  the  stamp-act.  Frank 
lin  avers  that  "  no  one  of  these  particulars  was  true," 
and  then  proceeds  to  state  the  actual  course  of  the  trans 
action.  The  substance  of  his  statement  is  as  follows  : — 

About  the  beginning  of  1764,  Mr.  Grenville  had  a 
meeting  of  the  colonial  agents,  then  in  London,  at  which 
he  informed  them  of  his  design  to  introduce  a  bill  at  the 
next  session  of  Parliament,  to  draw  a  revenue  from  the 
colonies  by  a  tax  on  stamps  ;  that  he  gave  them  this  no 
tice,  to  be  communicated  to  their  constitutents  in  season 
for  them  to  consider  the  subject,  and  that  if  they  could 


HISTORY    OF    THE    STAMP-ACT.  389 

suggest  any  other  tax,  which,  being  equally  productive, 
would  be  more  acceptable  to  them,  they  might  let  him 
know  it.  The  agents  accordingly  wrote  to  their  respec 
tive  Assemblies,  and  their  letters  were  received,  as  here 
tofore  stated,  early  in  the  succeeding  autumn. 

The  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania  objected  to  the  contem 
plated  act  on  the  ground  that  it  would  be,  not  only  contrary 
to  all  recognised  and  long-established  usage,  but  a  direct 
encroachment  on  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  colonies 
as  vested  in  them  by  their  charters.  The  constitutional 
and  established  mode  of  raising  supplies  in  the  colonies 
for  the  king's  service,  was  by  requisition  from  the  king  in 
council,  whenever  his  majesty,  as  advised  by  his  council, 
deemed  a  rightful  occasion  had  occurred  for  making  it; 
such  requisition  to  be  communicated  by  the  minister 
having  charge  of  colonial  affairs,  through  the  several  co 
lonial  governors,  to  the  respective  Assemblies  of  the  col 
onies,  with  explanations  of  the  nature  of  the  occasion,  for 
their  information  and  satisfaction,  and  with  an  expression 
of  his  majesty's  regard  and  his  reliance  on  their  loyalty 
and  public  spirit  for  granting  such  sums  as  would  com 
port  with  their  ability,  the  mode  of  raising  them  being 
left  to  their  discretion. 

The  colonies,  it  was  urged,  had  always  responded  lib 
erally  to  such  requisitions  —  so  liberally,  indeed,  during 
the  then  recent  war,  as  greatly  to  exceed  their  just  pro 
portion  ;  and  though  Parliament,  pursuant  to  the  king's 
recommendation,  had  reimbursed  to  them  collectively 
two  hundred  thousand  pounds  a  year,  for  five  successive 
years,  yet  even  that  sum,  a  million  in  all,  fell  much  short 
of  a  full  indemnification.  The  meditated  tax,  therefore, 
would  be  not  less  ungracious  than  unjust.  Besides,  un 
der  their  charters,  their  political  connection  was  solely 
with  the  king :  he  alone  was  their  sovereign,  and  his 
financial  ministers  had,  as  such,  nothing  to  do  with  them  ; 
33* 


390  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

Mr.  Grenville  had  no  authority  to  make  requisitions  upon 
them  through  their  agents,  nor  had  these  any  authority 
to  stipulate  anything  concerning  taxes  by  act  of  Parlia 
ment,  inasmuch  as  the  Parliament  itself  had  no  right  to 
tax  them  at  all,  so  long  as  they  were  not  represented  in 
that  body. 

Such  was  the  position  taken,  in  common  with  the  other 
colonial  Assemblies,  by  the  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania  ; 
and  in  conformity  therewith,  that  body,  in  the  session  of 
September,  1763,  already  referred  to,  passed  a  resolu 
tion  purporting  that,  as  they  always  had  considered  it 
their  duty,  so  they  should  continue  to  consider  it,  to  grant 
aids  to  the  king,  according  to  their  ability,  whenever 
such  aids  were  applied  for  "  in  the  usual  constitutional 
manner." 

When  Franklin  shortly  after  went  to  England,  he 
took  with  him  an  authenticated  copy  of  that  resolution, 
and  communicated  it  to  Mr.  Grenville  before  that  minis 
ter  introduced  his  bill  for  taxing  stamps.  Similar  reso 
lutions  from  other  colonies  were  also  laid  before  him ; 
and  if  he  had  been  wise  enough  to  drop  that  measure 
and  apply  to  the  privy  council  for  the  usual  requisition, 
"  he  would,"  says  Franklin,  "  I  am  sure,  have  obtained 
more  money  from  the  colonies,  by  their  voluntary  grants, 
than  he  himself  expected  from  his  stamps.  But  he  cJwse 
compulsion  rather  than  persuasion,  and  would  not  receive 
from  their  good  will  what  he  thought  he  could  obtain 
without  it." 

Thus  Franklin  showed  that  the  course,  which  the 
pamphlet  blamed  the  colonies  for  not  taking,  was  the 
very  course  they  actually  took ;  and  that  the  minister  per 
sisted  in  forcing  his  bill  through  Parliament,  not  only 
against  the  remonstrances  and  protests  of  the  colonies, 
but  in  contempt  of  their  unvaried  practice  and  recognised 
duty  of  granting  supplies  for  the  king's  service,  in  all 


STAMP-ACT.  391 

public  emergencies,  when  called  for  in  a  mariner  consist 
ent  with  the  rights  and  liberties  secured  to  them  alike  by 
their  charters  and  by  the  British  constitution.  In  this 
way,  the  obstinacy  of  one  man,  of  an  impracticable  and 
arbitrary  temper,  by  adhering  to  an  extravagant  claim  of 
power  not  founded  in  right  and  never  advanced  before, 
became  the  real  moving  cause  of  that  controversy,  which, 
though  it  took  various  phases  in  its  progress,  never  ceased 
until  it  resulted  in  sundering  from  the  mother-country 
the  noblest  portion  of  her  empire.  The  inherent  incon 
sistency  of  such  a  claim  was  gross,  as  its  injustice.  It  was 
a  fundamental  principle  of  the  British  constitution  that  its 
subjects  could  not  be  rightfully  taxed,  or  have  a  farthing  of 
their  property  taken  from  them  in  any  other  way,  without 
their  own  consent  expressed  directly  by  themselves  or 
their  legal  representatives.  This  principle  was  recog 
nised  by  Mr.  Grenville  as  much  as  by  his  opponents  : 
and,  although  his  very  proposal  of  a  tax  necessarily 
implied  that  the  people  to  be  taxed  were  subjects,  yet 
he  persisted  in  claiming  for  Parliament  the  right  to  tax 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  subjects,  in  all  cases  what 
soever,  not  only  without  their  consent  in  any  form,  but 
against  their  universal  remonstrance. 

The  earnestness  of  Franklin's  opposition,  not  merely 
to  the  stamp-act,  but  to  the  whole  claim  of  power  on 
which  it  rested,  was  vividly  expressed  by  him  in  a  letter 
of  July  11,  1765,  to  Charles  Thompson  of  Philadelphia, 
so  well  known  in  after-years  as  the  secretary  of  the  Con 
tinental  Congress.  In  quoting  from  that  letter,  we  would 
remind  the  reader  that  the  "  claims  of  independence" 
mentioned  in  it,  related  merely  to  the  counter-claims  of 
Parliament  respecting  taxation,  not  to  national  indepen 
dence  :  it  was  this  very  stamp-act  and  the  power  it  as 
serted  that  first  led  to  the  agitation  of  the  independence 
of  '76  ;  and  the  last  remark  quoted  below  shows  that  the 


392  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

coming  of  that  great  event  was  already  betokened  to  the 
forecasting  mind  of  him  who  made  it :  "  Depend  upon  it, 
my  good  neighbor,"  said  Franklin,  "  I  took  every  step 
in  my  power  to  prevent  the  passing  of  the  stamp-act. 
But  the  tide  was  too  strong  against  us.  This  nation  was 
provoked  by  American  claims  of  independence,  and  all 
parties  joined  by  resolving  in  this  act  to  settle  the  point. 
We  might  as  well  have  hindered  the  sun's  setting.  Tliat 
we  could  not  do.  But  since  it  is  down,  my  friend,  and 
it  may  be  long  before  it  rises  again,  let  us  make  as  good 
a  night  of  it  as  we  can.  We  may  still  light  candles. 
Frugality  and  industry  will  go  a  great  way  toward  in 
demnifying  us.  Idleness  and  pride  tax  with  a  heavier 
hand  than  kings  and  parliaments.  If  we  can  get  rid  of 
the  former,  we  may  easily  get  rid  of  the  latter" 

Mr.  Thompson's  reply  to  the  above  letter  is  so  interest 
ing,  that  we  extract  a  part  of  it :  "  The  sun  of  liberty," 
said  he,  "  is  indeed  fast  setting,  if  not  already  clown,  in 
these  colonies.  They  are  in  general  alarmed  to  the  last 
degree.  They  can  not  bring  themselves  to  believe,  nor 
can  they  see  how  England  with  reason  or  justice  expects, 
that  they  should  have  encountered  the  horrors  of  a  wilder 
ness,  borne  the  attacks  of  barbarous  savages,  and,  at  the 
expense  of  their  blood  and  treasure,  settled  this  country 
to  the  great  emolument  of  England,  and  after  all  quietly 
submit  to  be  deprived  of  everything  an  Englishman  had 
been  taught  to  hold  dear.  It  is  not  property  only  we 
contend  for.  Our  liberty  and  most  essential  privileges 
are  struck  at." 

Notwithstanding  Franklin's  constant  and  fearless  as 
sertion,  both  at  home  and  in  England,  of  the  rights  of 
the  colonies  under  their  charters  —  though  the  shrewd 
and  accomplished  governor  Denny  had  vainly  endeavored 
to  lure  him  to  the  side  of  the  Proprietaries  by  assurances 
of  wealth  and  preferment  —  and  though  the  imbecile  gov- 


DEAN    TUCKER.  393 

ernor  John  Perm,  when  his  administration  was  menaced 
with  subversion  by  riot  and  insurrection  incited  by  his 
own  weakness  and  the  misconduct  of  his  magistrates,  had 
sought  the  protection  of  Franklin  and  found  it  —  yet  the 
emissaries  of  that  same  faction  had  the  effrontery  to  cir 
culate  a  story  that  Franklin  was  in  favor  of  the  stamp- 
act.  The  charge,  however,  was  so  extravagantly  false, 
and  its  motive  so  palpable,  that  it  recoiled  upon  its  in 
ventors  ;  and  the  zeal  and  energy  of  his  efforts  to  con 
vince  the  ministry  of  the  evil  tendency  of  the  measure, 
and  to  prevent  its  passage,  were  rewarded  by  a  marked 
increase  of  the  public  confidence  and  esteem. 

Of  the  malign ers  of  Franklin  in  England  on  this  occa 
sion,  the  most  prominent  was  the  Rev.  Josiah  Tucker, 
dean  of  Gloucester.  He  was  addicted  to  politics,  and 
wrote  various  pieces,  in  which  he  handled  the  colonial 
claims,  as  he  supposed,  very  severely.  In  one  of  these 
pieces  he  charged  Franklin  with  having,  after  the  pas 
sage  of  the  stamp-act,  applied  to  Mr.  Grenville  for  the 
office  of  distributor  of  stamps  arid  collector  of  the  stamp- 
duty  for  Pennsylvania.  This  charge  having  been  brought 
to  Franklin's  notice  some  time  after,  he  had  the  charity 
to  suppose  that  the  dean  had  been  imposed  upon  by 
others,  and  wrote  to  him,  in  courteous  terms,  assuring 
him  that  the  allegation  was  unfounded,  and  requesting 
him  to  withdraw  it.  To  this  the  dean  replied  by  saying 
that  on  inquiry  he  had  found  himself  "  mistaken  in  some 
circumstances"  of  the  case,  "  though  right  as  to  the  sub 
stance."  To  this  insulting  answer,  Franklin  replied  that 
"  if  the  substance  was  right,  any  mistakes  in  the  cir 
cumstances  could  give  him  little  concern  ;"  but  "  know 
ing  the  substance  to  be  wrong,"  and  supposing  that  the 
dean  could  have  no  wish  to  injure  his  character,  he  asked 
him  to  communicate  the  particulars  of  his  information, 
as  he  believed  he  could,  after  seeing  what  they  were, 


394  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

satisfy  the  dean  that  they  were  groundless  ;  and  he  pro 
posed  this  course  as  being  "  more  decent  than  a  public 
altercation,  and  better  suiting  the  respect  due  to  the  char 
acter"  of  the  dean. 

The  justice  of  this  request  the  reverend  gentleman 
could  not  but  admit,  and  professing  his  readiness  to  com 
ply  with  it,  he  tells  Franklin  that  he  had  long  considered 
his  advocacy  of  the  cause  of  the  colonies  as  "  exceeding 
the  bounds  of  morality,"  but  that  "if  it  could  be  proved 
that  he  [the  dean]  had  unjustly  suspected  him,"  he  should 
acknowledge  his  error  with  much  satisfaction  ;"  and  then, 
after  this  peculiarly  modest  introduction,  he  proceeds  to 
give  the  particulars  asked  for,  by  saying  that  he  had  been 
"  repeatedly  informed"  that  Franklin  had  solicited  Mr. 
Grenville  for  the  office  mentioned,  "from  which  circum 
stance,"  he  adds,  "  I  myself  concluded  that  you  had  made 
interest  for  it  on  your  own  account ;  whereas,  I  am  now 
informed  that  there  are  no  positive  proofs"  to  that  effect, 
but  that  "  there  is  evidence  still  existing"  of  such  an  ap 
plication  for  a  friend ;  from  wliicli  circumstance  the  dean 
again  concludes  that  "  the  general  merits  of  the  question" 
are  not  materially  varied,  inasmuch  as  any  distinction  be 
tween  oneself  and  a  friend,  in  such  a  case,  was  above  his 
comprehension  ;  and  then,  in  his  gracious  condescension, 
the  dean  closes  with  a  compliment  to  Franklin's  "  great 
abilities  and  happy  discoveries." 

The  gist  of  this  charge  was,  as  the  reader  will  observe, 
that  Franklin,  from  mercenary  motives  and  in  contempt 
of  his  professed  principles,  had,  of  his  own  volition,  ap 
plied  for  the  office  named — had  solicited  it  —  made  in 
terest  for  it;  and  that  there  was  proof,  which,  though  it 
failed,  in  point  of  mere  form,  to  sustain  the  charge  against 
Franklin  by  name,  did  show  that  an  application  was  made 
by  him  for  the  office  mentioned  in  the  name  of  a  friend, 
and  sustained  the  inuendo  that  the  form  of  the  pro- 


CALUMNY    REFUTED.  395 

ceeding  was  only  a  cunning  pretext  to  cover  the  real 
object. 

The  deliberate  malice  of  the  reverend  calumniator  hav 
ing  thus  betrayed  itself,  Franklin  was  too  accurate  an 
observer  of  character  to  expect  from  him  any  frank  and 
manly  confession  of  the  truth.  But  resolving  to  leave 
him  without  excuse  for  his  injustice,  he  wrote  him  a  full 
and  clear  statement  of  the  facts,  accompanied  by  a  com 
ment,  which,  though  expressed  with  the  decorum  and 
dignity  due  to  himself  and  his  position,  exposed  the 
sophistry  and  equivocation  of  his  assailant,  and  his  mean 
ness  as  well  as  effrontery  in  continuing  to  insinuate  what 
he  could  no  longer  affirm,  so  conclusively  that  the  rev 
erend  Josiah  Tucker  did  not  attempt  any  rejoinder. 

The  facts  of  the  case  were  these:  Some  days  after 
the  passage  of  the  stamp-act,  Mr.  Grenville's  secretary, 
Thomas  Whately,  wrote  Franklin  word  that  he  wished  to 
see  him.  Calling  on  him,  therefore,  the  next  morning, 
Franklin  found  several  other  colonial  agents  with  Mr. 
Whately,  who  stated  that,  to  give  as  little  offence  as  pos 
sible  to  the  colonies,  in  executing  the  act,  the  officers  to 
distiibute  stamps  and  receive  the  duty  were  to  be  select 
ed  from  among  their  own  people,  it  being  deemed  but 
fair  that  the  emoluments  of  this  business  should  go  to  in 
dividuals  belonging  to  the  communities  paying  the  tax, 
and  not  to  foreigners  ;  and  that  the  object  of  calling  the 
colonial  agents  together  was,  to  request  them  to  recom 
mend  competent  and  responsible  persons  in  their  respec 
tive  colonies  for  the  office  in  question,  as  great  regard 
would  be  paid  to  their  recommendation.  The  agents 
took  it  for  granted  that  the  proposal  of  Mr.  Whately  was 
seriously  and  candidly  made,  and  they  all  made  nomina- 
For  Pennsylvania,  Franklin  named  John  Hughes, 
one  of  the  best  men  in  the  province,  saying  at  the  same 
time  that  he  did  not  know  that  Mr.  Hughes  would  accept 


306  LIFE     OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

the  appointment,  but  if  he  should,  he  would  discharge  its 
duties  faithfully.  Not  one  of  the  agents  dreamed  that 
anybody  could  torture  this  civil  compliance  with  a  re 
quest  from  the  minister  into  an  application  from  them 
for  office,  or,  still  worse,  into  an  approval  of  the  act  they 
had  been  so  strenuously  resisting. 

These  attacks  upon  him,  however,  gave  little  disturb 
ance  to  Franklin's  equanimity.  Conscious  of  his  recti 
tude,  strong  in  the  confidence  of  his  constituents,  and 
continually  receiving  evidence  of  the  esteem  and  friend 
ship  of  a  large  circle  of  the  most  distinguished  and  virtu 
ous  men  of  the  time,  he  held  on  his  course,  faithful  to 
his  principles  and  his  duties.  He  refers  to  this  topic  in 
a  letter  of  July,  1765,  to  his  friend  Roberts.  "  Expres 
sions  of  steady  friendship,"  says  he,  "such  as  your  letter 
contains,  though  but  from  one  or  a  few  honest  and  sen 
sible  men,  who  have  long  known  us,  afford  a  satisfaction 
that  far  outweighs  the  clamorous  abuse  of  a  thousand 
knaves  and  fools."  The  same  composure  of  spirit,  uni 
ted  with  a  steadfast  reliance  on  Providence,  is  unequiv 
ocally  indicated  in  a  letter  to  his  wife  about  the  same 
time.  "  It  rejoices  me  to  learn,"  says  he,  "  that  you  are 
more  free  than  you  used  to  be  from  the  headache  and 
the  pain  in  your  side.  I  am  likewise  in  perfect  health. 
God  is  very  good  to  us  both.  Let  us  enjoy  his  favors 
with  thankful  and  cheerful  hearts ;  and,  as  we  can  make 
no  direct  return  to  him,  show  our  sense  of  his  goodness 
to  us  by  continuing  to  do  good  to  our  fellow-creatures, 
without  regarding  the  returns  they  make  us,  whether 
good  or  bad.  For  they  are  all  his  children,  though  they 
they  may  sometimes  be  our  enemies.  The  friendships 
of  this  world  are  uncertain,  transitory  things  ;  but  his 
favor,  if  we  can  secure  it,  is  an  inheritance  for  ever." 

The  passage  of  the  stamp-act,  as  soon  as  it  was  known 
in  the  colonies,  produced  a  ferment  among  the  people 


RECEPTION    OP    THE    STAMP-ACT.  397 

everywhere.  The  Assemblies  adopted  resolutions  de 
nouncing  it  as  beyond  the  constitutional  power  of  Parlia 
ment,  and  a  violation  of  the  colonial  charters  ;  and  in 
conformity  with  these  resolutions,  they  prepared  peti 
tions  to  the  king  for  the  repeal  of  the  obnoxious  meas 
ure,  and  sent  them  to  their  agents  in  London  to  be  laid 
before  his  majesty  in  council.  These  proceedings,  though 
firm  and  explicit,  were  respectful  in  language  and  mod 
erate  in  tone.  They  recognised  their  allegiance  to  the 
king,  their  duty  to  maintain  the  interests  and  honor  of 
the  crown,  and  bear  their  proper  share  of  the  burdens 
required  for  the  public  service,  in  the  manner  always 
recognised  and  pursued,  but  protested  against  the  au 
thority  of  Parliament  as  a  foreign  legislature,  in  which 
they  were  not  represented,  and  which,  therefore,  had  no 
rightful  power  to  tax  them. 

But  while  the  public  bodies  proceeded  with  dignified 
moderation,  and  the  documents  they  put  forth,  though 
warm  with  the  sense  of  invaded  rights,  were  distinguished 
not  only  for  ability,  but  for  that  decorum  of  language 
which  best  becomes  a  good  cause,  the  people  and  their 
favorite  orators,  paying  little  regard  to  punctilio,  de 
nounced  the  stamp-act,  the  ministry,  and  the  authority 
of  Parliament,  in  the  most  vehement  terms.  The  stamp- 
distributors  were  compelled  to  renounce  their  appoint 
ments  ;  and  when  the  stamp-paper  arrived,  not  a  bale 
was  allowed  to  be  landed,  but,  after  being  kept  for  some 
time  on  shipboard,  the  vessels  that  brought  it  took  it  all 
back  to  England. 

Such  was  the  reception  of  the  stamp-act,  by  which  Mr. 
George  Grenville  had  so  confidently  expected  to  raise 
an  annual  revenue  of  a  hundred  thousand  pounds  ster 
ling  in  the  American  colonies  ;  and  the  exasperation  it 
produced  is  easily  accounted  for  when  it  is  considered 
that,  besides  the  assumption  of  power  from  which  it  pro- 
34 


398  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

ceeded,  it  expressly  enacted,  (to  sum  up  its  provisions  in 
the  words  of  Franklin,)  that  the  people  of  the  colonies 
should  "have  no  commerce,  make  no  exchange  of  prop 
erty  with  each  other,  neither  purchase,  nor  grant  lands, 
nor  recover  debts  ;  neither  marry,  nor  make  wills,"  un 
less  they  paid,  in  specie  too,  the  duties  imposed  by  the 
act  on  the  paper  it  made  necessary  for  the  various  pur 
poses  indicated,  embracing  all  the  important  transactions 
of  life. 

But  it  was  not  the  stamp-act  alone  that  caused  the  out 
burst  of  indignant  feeling  and  resolute  remonstrance 
through  the  colonies.  Not  merely  the  people  of  Eng 
land  collectively,  but  their  political  writers  and  leading 
public  men,  had  little  knowledge  of  the  actual  condition 
of  the  colonies,  or  of  the  character  of  their  population  ; 
and  what  is  still  more  remarkable,  the  very  statesmen 
who  undertook  to  think  for  their  colonial  fellow-subjects 
and  regulate  their  affairs,  were  culpably  ignorant,  not 
only  of  the  internal  relations,  pursuits,  trade,  and  re 
sources,  of  the  colonies,  but  of  their  history  and  progress 
—  of  the  difficulties  and  dangers  they  had  surmounted,  in 
preparing  their  broad  territories  for  the  occupancy  of  a 
great  and  civilized  people  —  of  the  vast  benefits  the  moth 
er-country  had  already  derived  from  them,  and  the  still 
greater  promise  of  the  future  —  or  of  the  heavy  burdens 
they  had  borne  in  her  wars,  not  waged  for  their  sake, 
but  springing  from  her  entangled  connections  with  the 
nations  of  Europe  ;  and  yet,  notwithstanding  all  this,  and 
the  loyal  zeal  it  implied,  those  same  ministers  and  their 
partisan  writers  were  perpetually  charging  the  colonies 
with  disaffection  and  ingratitude,  because  they  would  not 
tamely  submit  to  new  burdens  however  crushing,  and  to 
claims  of  power  which,  if  allowed,  would  wrest  from 
them  every  right  conferred  on  them  by  their  charters 
and  recognised  by  the  British  constitution  itself.  These 


OPPOSING    SENTIMENTS.  399 

considerations  had  long  been  weighing  upon  the  minds 
of  the  colonists,  awakening  their  apprehensions,  appeal 
ing  to  their  sense  of  right,  and  goading  them  to  resent 
ment.  When  the  information  came,  in  the  latter  part  of 
1763,  that  the  British  ministry  intended  to  propose  the 
stamp-act  to  Parliament,  the  colonies  saw  that  the  time 
was  at  hand  for  the  resolute  assertion  of  their  rights, 
whatever  it  might  cost;  and  when  the  stamped  paper  ar 
rived,  it  was  but  the  lighted  match  applied  to  elements 
already  prepared  for  explosion. 

The  actual  tone  of  feeling  and  the  tendency  of  public 
sentiment  throughout  the  colonies,  in  1765,  is  well  stated 
by  Franklin  in  a  letter  dated  at  London,  the  6th  of  Jan 
uary,  1766,  and  commenting  on  a  manuscript  sent  him 
by  a  friend,  from  some  one  whose  name  is  not  given,  but 
who  proposed  a  closer  union  of  the  colonies  with  the 
mother-country  by  providing  for  their  representation  in 
Parliament  on  the  same  footing  with  their  fellow-subjects 
in  England.  "  The  time  has  been,"  says  Franklin,  "  when 
the  colonies  would  have  esteemed  it  a  great  advantage  to 
send  members  to  Parliament,  and  would  have  asked  the 
privilege,  if  they  could  have  had  the  least  hope  of  obtain 
ing  it.  The  time  is  now  come,  when  they  are  indifferent 
about  it,  and  will  not  probably  ask  it,  though  they  might 
accept  it  if  offered ;  and  the  time  will  come,  when  they 
will  certainly  refuse  it.  This  people,  however,  is  too 
proud  to  bear  the  thought  of  admitting  the  Americans  to 
an  equitable  participation  in  the  government." 

The  general  tenor  of  the  manuscript  led  Franklin  to 
regard  its  author  as  a  "  sensible  and  benevolent"  man. 
Yet  that  author  spoke  of  "  the  very  extraordinary  efforts" 
by  which  "  Great  Britain,  in  the  late  war,  had  saved  the 
colonists  from  destruction,"  and  of  "the  consequent  load 
of  debt,"  as  if  all  this  was  for  the  sake  of  the  colonists 
alone,  and  as  if  they  had  done  nothing ;  and  he  insisted, 


400  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

therefore,  that  they  "  should  be  somehow  induced  to  con 
tribute  some  proportion  toward  the  exigencies  of  state 
in  future  ;"  thus  betraying  his  ignorance  of  the  long- 
practised  method  of  raising  supplies  in  the  colonies  for 
"  the  exigencies  of  state,"  by  application  from  the  king 
in  council,  and  of  the  remarkable  fact  that  those  colonies 
had  contributed  to  the  expenses  of  that  same  "  late  war" 
so  much  beyond  tlieir  "proportion"  that  even  Parliament 
had  voted  them  a  million  sterling  by  way  of  reimburse 
ment.  This  writer,  however,  was  a  well-meaning  man, 
whose  project  of  union  indicated  some  sense  of  justice; 
while,  on  the  part  of  ministers  and  placemen  generally, 
with  ignorance  not  less  gross  than  his,  was  associated  a 
jealous  enmity  toward  their  American  fellow-subjects, 
and  a  notion  of  parliamentary  and  ministerial  omnipo 
tence  so  exalted  as  scarcely  to  permit  them  to  recognise 
such  things  as  colonial  rights  :  and  the  very  pretension 
of  the  colonies  that  they  had  any,  not  subject  to  their  con 
trol,  seems  to  have  excited  a  kind  of  resentful  impatience 
to  manifest  their  contempt  for  such  claims  as  soon  as 
possible,  in  every  practicable  form. 

Though  such  were  the  views  and  feelings  which  had 
led  to  the  passage  of  the  stamp-act,  and  though  the 
Grenville  ministry  and  their  majority  in  Parliament  had 
laid  the  remonstrances  of  the  colonies  against  the  act, 
v/ith  their  petitions  for  its  repeal,  on  the  table,  not  deign 
ing  to  consider  them,  yet  the  sentiments  they  contained 
and  the  commotion  in  the  colonies  had  made  a  strong 
impression  on  the  minds  of  another  class  of  British  states 
men  ;  and  Mr.  Grenville  and  his  colleagues  having  been 
superseded  by  the  marquis  of  Rockingham  at  the  head 
of  a  ministry  more  favorable  to  the  claims  of  the  colonies, 
the  question  was  brought  up,  at  the  commencement  of 
the  year  1766,  with  a  determination  on  the  part  of  the 
new  ministry  to  propose  the  repeal  of  the  obnoxious  act. 


EXAMINATION    BEFORE    PARLIAMENT.  401 

With  the  view  of  obtaining  light  on  this  subject,  the 
house  of  commons  resolved  itself  into  a  committee  of  the 
whole,  for  the  purpose  of  examining  the  colonial  agents 
and  others  connected  with  the  trade  as  well  as  the  in 
ternal  affairs  of  the  colonies,  respecting  their  population, 
pursuits,  trade,  resources,  taxes,  sentiments  regarding 
their  connection  with  the  mother-country,  and,  in  short, 
whatever  might  properly  bear  on  the  question,  not  merely 
of  the  stamp-act,  but  of  the  general  policy  to  be  adopted 
toward  the  colonies.  In  pursuance  of  this  resolution, 
Franklin,  with  several  others,  was  summoned  before  the 
house  on  the  3d  of  February,  1766,  to  undergo  the  ap 
pointed  examination.  This  was  a  marked  and  memora 
ble  epoch  in  Franklin's  life.  On  no  occasion  in  his  long 
and  splendid  career,  whether  as  a  statesman  and  politi 
cal  economist,  or  as  a  patriot  and  a  man,  did  he  ever  ap 
pear  with  more  shining  advantage.  Mr.  Grenville  and 
several  of  his  adherents  not  less  bitter  than  himself,  as 
well  as  the  supporters  of  the  new  premier,  took  part  in 
the  examination.  The  imposing  character  of  the  scene, 
the  important  and  exciting  interests  involved,  and  still 
more,  probably,  his  own  position  and  the  consciousness 
of  his  great  reputation,  were  well  calculated  to  disturb 
any  man's  mental  balance ;  but  Franklin  showed  himself 
in  all  respects  equal  to  the  occasion ;  and  he  never  ex 
hibited  more  unquestionable  or  higher  proofs  of  the  wide 
range  of  his  political  knowledge  and  sagacity,  or  of  the 
acuteness,  depth,  clearness,  and  vigor,  of  his  masculine 
understanding,  in  applying  that  knowledge  in  its  mani 
fold  details,  than  he  did  in  that  severe  test  of  his  qualities 
before  the  house  of  commons.  Self-collected  and  firm, 
yet  with  a  modest  dignity  of  deportment,  he  gave  his 
answers  with  a  readiness,  perspicuity,  directness,  and 
manly  boldness,  which  took  his  adversaries  by  surprise, 
and,  while  it  commanded  their  respect,  raised  the  admi- 
34* 


402  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

ration  and  affection  of  his  friends  to  enthusiasm.  The 
interrogatories,  one  hundred  and  seventy-four  in  num 
ber,  took  a  wide  range,  and,  with  the  answers,  embraced 
all  the  main  points  of  the  condition  of  the  colonies,  their 
internal  administration,  capabilities,  and  burdens  ;  the 
aid  they  rendered  the  mother-country,  and  received  from 
her;  the  extent  of  authority  they  conceded  to  her;  their 
temper  toward  her  prior  to  the  passage  of  the  stamp-act ; 
the  effect  which  that  measure,  and  especially  the  princi 
ples  on  which  it  rested,  had  exerted  on  their  sentiments, 
and  the  consequences  which  might  be  anticipated  from 
pressing  those  principles  —  in  short,  the  whole  ground 
of  colonial  right  and  metropolitan  power,  with  the  con 
duct  and  merits  of  the  respective  parties  to  the  great 
issues  presented. 

Our  limits  will  admit  only  a  cursory  notice  of  a  few 
prominent  points  of  this  examination.  In  arranging  the 
provisions  of  the  stamp-act,  its  framers  seem  to  have  ta 
ken  it  for  granted  that  the  stamps  could  be  circulated  by 
post  as  conveniently  in  the  colonies  as  in  England.  In 
reply  to  questions  on  this  point,  Franklin  demonstrated 
the  folly  as  well  as  injustice  of  the  act,  by  showing  that 
the  mails  were  and  could  be  carried,  for  the  most  part, 
only  along  the  seaboard  ;  that  the  population  generally 
was  so  thinly  scattered  over  the  great  interior,  that,  to 
obtain  stamps,  the  people  would  be  compelled  to  make 
journeys  at  the  expense  of  several  pounds,  in  a  large 
proportion  of  cases,  in  order  to  pay  sixpence  to  the  rev 
enue  ;  arid  that  as  this  was  required  in  coin,  there  was 
not  enough  of  it  in  the  colonies  to  pay  the  duty  for  a 
single  year,  inasmuch  as  the  course  of  trade  took  nearly 
the  whole  of  their  hard  money  to  England. 

To  the  question,  put  by  Mr.  Grenville  —  "Do  you 
think  it  right  that  America  should  be  protected  by  this 
country,  and  pay  no  part  of  the  expense1?"  —  Franklin 


EXAMINATION  BEFORE  PARLIAMENT.        403 

replied,  "  That  is  not  the  case.  The  colonies  raised, 
clothed,  and  paid,  during  the  last  war,  nearly  twenty- 
five  thousand  men,  and  spent  many  millions  ;"  and  to  the 
further  question  —  "Were  you  not  reimbursed  by  Par 
liament  ]" —  it  was  answered,  "  We  were  only  reimbursed 
what,  in  your  opinion,  we  had  advanced  beyond  our  pro 
portion  ;  and  it  was  a  very  small  part  of  what  we  spent. 
Pennsylvania  disbursed  about  five  hundred  thousand 
pounds,  and  the  whole  reimbursement  to  her  did  not  ex 
ceed  sixty  thousand.  Being  asked  if  the  people  of  Amer 
ica  would  pay  the  stamp-duty  if  moderated,  he  replied, 
"  No,  never,  unless  compelled  by  force  of  arms."  To 
the  question,  "  What  was  the  temper  of  America  tow 
ard  Great  Britain  before  the  year  1763  t"  Franklin  an 
swered,  "  The  best  in  the  world.  They  submitted  wil 
lingly  to  the  government  of  the  crown.  .  .  .  Numerous  as 
the  people  are  in  the  old  provinces,  they  cost  you  noth 
ing  in  forts,  citadels,  garrisons,  or  armies,  to  keep  them 
in  subjection.  They  were  governed  by  this  country  at 
the  expense  only  of  a  little  pen,  ink,  and  paper ;  they 
were  led  by  a  thread.  They  had  not  only  a  respect,  but 
an  affection,  for  Great  Britain  —  for  its  laws,  customs, 
manners,  and  even  a  fondness  for  its  fashions,  which 

greatly  increased  their  commerce but  that  temper 

is  very  much  altered  now." 

To  other  questions,  the  import  of  which  will  be  ap 
prehended  by  the  answers  from  which  we  cite,  Franklin 
replied  that  "  the  authority  of  Parliament  was  allowed  to 
be  valid  in  all  laws,  except  such  as  should  lay  internal 
taxes"  —  laws  for  the  regulation  of  external  commerce 
never  being  disputed  ;  that  the  population  of  the  colonies 
doubled,  on  an  average,  every  twenty-five  years,  but  that 
the  demand  for  British  manufactures  increased  much 
faster,  consumption  being  affected  not  only  by  numbers 
but  by  the  increase  of  wealth  :  as,  in  Pennsylvania,  for 


404  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

example,  the  importation  of  British  goods  had  risen  from 
about  fifteen  thousand  pounds,  in  1723,  to  about  half  a 
million  sterling,  in  1763  ;  that  the  colonies  had  been  ac 
customed  to  regard  Parliament  as  "  the  great  bulwark  of 
their  liberties  and  privileges  ;"  that  "  arbitrary  ministers 
might,  at  times,  attempt  to  oppress  them,  but  they  had 
relied  on  Parliament  for  redress,"  as  in  the  "strong  in 
stance"  when  ministers  proposed  a  bill  to  give  "  royal 
instructions"  the  force  of  laws  in  the  colonies,  which  the 
commons  rejected;  but  that  their  respect  for  Parliament 
had  been  greatly  lessened  by  "  restraints  lately  laid  on 
their  trade,"  which  shut  out  gold  arid  silver  —  by  prohib 
iting  paper-money  for  their  own  use  —  and  then  by  "  de 
manding  a  new  and  heavy  tax  on  stamps  ;  taking  away, 
at  the  same  time,  trials  by  juries,  and  refusing  to  receive 
and  hear  their  petitions  ;"  that  if  any  future  tax  should 
be  imposed  on  them,  upon  the  principles  of  the  stamp- 
act,  they  would  receive"  it  just  as  they  do  this  —  they 
would  not  pay  it ;  that  they  would  regard  any  assertion 
of  such  principle  by  Parliament  as  "  unconstitutional  and 
unjust,"  because  they  could  not  be  rightfully  taxed  where 
they  were  not  represented." 

Having  admitted  the  lawfulness  of  duties  laid  for  the 
regulation  of  external  trade,  he  was  asked  if  he  could 
show  the  smallest  difference  in  principle  between  such 
duties  and  internal  taxes.  The  question  was  of  vital  im 
portance  to  the  whole  controversy,  and  came  from  the 
Grenville  party.  Franklin  promptly  answered  that  he 
thought  the  difference  very  great ;  that  the  external  tax, 
or  duty  on  imports,  passed,  with  freight  and  other  charges, 
into  the  price  of  the  commodity  imported,  and  if  the  peo 
ple  did  not  choose  to  pay  the  price,  they  need  not  take 
the  article.  "  But  an  internal  tax  is  forced  from  the 
people  without  their  consent,  if  not  laid  by  their  own 
representatives  :"  as,  in  the  case  of  the  stamp-act,  they 


EXAMINATION    BEFORE    PARLIAMENT.  405 

were  required  to  use  the  stamp,  to  render  any  of  their 
contracts  valid,  and  compelled  to  pay  the  duty  under  the 
peril  of  ruinous  penalties.  But  suppose,  as  he  was  then 
asked,  the  external  tax  or  import  duty  were  laid  on  the 
necessaries  of  life  used  in  the  colonies,  would  not  that  be 
the  same,  in  effect,  as  an  internal  tax  ]  To  this  he  an 
swered,  "  I  do  not  know  a  single  article  imported  into 
the  colonies,  but  what  they  can  either  do  without,  or 
make  themselves  ;"  that  English  cloth  was  "  by  no  means 
absolutely  necessary ;"  that  so  far  from  its  taking  them 
a  long  time  to  supply  themselves  with  clothing,  "  they  had 
made  surprising  progress  in  that  way  already,"  and  that 
"  before  their  old  clothes  are  worn  out,  they  will  have  new 
ones  of  their  own  making;"  that,  for  securing  a  supply 
of  wool,  they  had  "  entered  into  combinations  to  eat  no 
more  lamb,  and  very  few  lambs  had  been  killed  in  the 
last  year;"  that  they  did  not  need  the  large  establish 
ments  which  were  necessary  to  the  production  of  cloths 
for  the  purpose  of  trade,  but  their  spinning  and  weaving 
were  done  in  their  own  families 

The  question  returning  again  to  the  stamp-act,  Frank 
lin  was  asked  if  anything  short  of  military  force  could 
carry  it  into  effect.  To  this  he  replied,  "  I  do  not  see 
how  military  forces  can  be  applied  to  it;  they  would  find 
nobody  in  arms,  and  they  could  not  compel  a  man  to  take 
stamps  who  should  choose  to  do  without  them  ;  they 
\\ou\djind  no  rebellion,  though  they  might,  indeed,  make 
one  ;"  that  if  the  act  were  not  repealed,  the  consequence 
would  be  a  "total  loss  of  the  respect  and  affection  of  the 
American  people  for  Great  Britain,  and  of  all  the  com 
merce  thereby  fostered  ;"  that  they  could  do  without 
British  goods,  and  had  already,  by  general  agreement, 
discontinued  the  use  of  all  the  merely  fashionable  and 
more  costly  kinds. 

Being  asked  by  Mr.  Grenville  if  the  postage  rates  were 


406  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

not  a  tax  —  "  No, "said  Franklin,  "  postage  is  not  of  the 
nature  of  a  tax  ;  it  is  a,  quantum  meruit  —  a  compensation 
for  service  rendered  :  no  person  is  obliged  to  pay  it,  if 
he  does  not  choose  to  receive  the  service  ;"  and  being 
further  asked  if  their  ill  humor  would  induce  the  Ameri 
cans  to  pay  as  much  for  inferior  goods  of  their  own  make 
as  for  better  fabrics  made  in  England,  he  replied,  "  Yes  ; 
people  will  pay  as  freely  to  gratify  one  passion  as  anoth 
er —  their  resentment  as  their  pride."  To  the  question 
whether  the  Americans  would  be  content  to  have  their 
tribunals  of  justice  closed,  and  the  enforcement  of  con 
tracts  suspended,  rather  than  use  the  stamps  necessary 
to  legalize  them,  he  gave  the  following  bold  and  pregnant 
answer  :  "  It  is  hard  to  say  what  they  would  do.  I  can 
only  judge  how  others  would  think  and  act,  by  what  I 
feel  myself.  I  have  a  great  many  debts  due  me  in  Amer 
ica  ;  but  I  had  rather  they  should  remain  unrecoverable 
by  any  law,  than  submit  to  the  stamp-act.  They  will 
then  be  debts  of  honor.  It  is  my  opinion  the  people 
will  either  continue  in  that  situation,  or  find  some  way 
to  extricate  themselves  —  perhaps  by  generally  agreeing 
to  proceed  in  the  courts  without  stamps."  Being  asked 
if,  in  repealing  the  stamp-act,  Parliament  should  in  some 
way  manifest  its  resentment  toward  the  opposers  of  the 
act,  would  the  colonies  acquiesce  in  the  authority  of  that 
body,  Frarikiin  answered  dryly  —  "  I  don't  doubt  at  all, 
that  if  Parliament  repeal  the  stamp-act,  the  colonies  will 
acquiesce  in  the  authority." 

It  was  then  asked,  if  Parliament,  merely  to  affirm  its 
right  to  tax  the  colonies,  should  lay  a  tax  on  them,  how 
ever  small,  would  they  pay  it.  This  question  was  put 
by  a  member  who  advocated  the  repeal  of  the  stamp-act, 
and  was  designed  to  give  an  opportunity  to  present  some 
important  points  more  in  connection  than  the  course  of 
inquiry  had  yet  allowed. 


EXAMINATION    BEFORE    PARLIAMENT.  407 

Franklin's  answer  was  full  and  discriminating.  He 
called  attention  to  the  distinction  between  the  settled  con 
victions  of  the  reflecting  classes  as  shown  by  the  deliber 
ate  action  of  the  public  bodies,  in  the  colonies,  and  the  riot 
ous  proceedings  in  various  places  at  the  first  outbreak  of 
popular  feeling,  all  which  had  been  confounded  together 
by  the  recent  ministry  and  their  adherents  ;  he  testified 
that  the  Assemblies  were  opposed  to  all  riots,  and  would 
punish  their  ringleaders  if  they  had  the  power;  that  they 
had  not  taken  a  single  step  toward  forcible  resistance, 
and  had  only  declared  their  rights  by  peaceful  resolu 
tion  and  remonstrance,  but  that,  as  to  any  internal  tax, 
however  small,  laid  by  a  legislature  in  England  on 
the  colonists  while  unrepresented  in  that  legislature, 
they  would  never  submit  to  it;  that  such  a  tax,  moreo 
ver,  was  wholly  unnecessary,  inasmuch  as  the  colonial 
Assemblies  had  always  promptly  raised  supplies,  in  the 
same  way  that  Parliament  raised  them,  that  is,  by  re 
quisition  from  the  king;  and  yet  the  colonies  were  con 
tinually  misrepresented  arid  abused,  on  this  very  point, 
in  parliamentary  speeches  and  partisan  pamphlets,  by 
false  charges  of  ingratitude  and  injustice,  as  having  put 
the  nation  to  immense  expense  in  defending  them  in  the 
last  war,  while  they  refused  to  bear  any  part  thereof, 
when  they  had,  during  that  very  war,  kept  in  the  field 
as  many  men  as  had  been  sent  from  England,  that  is  to 
say,  about  twenty-five  thousand,  and  by  so  doing  had  in 
curred  debts  which  would  burden  them  for  many  years 
to  come ;  that  this  was  far  beyond  their  proportion,  king, 
lords,  and  commons,  had  admitted  by  their  reimbursing 
acts,  though  the  million  sterling  thus  granted  fell  far 
short  of  actual  indemnification. 

When  this  strong  answer  had  been  rendered,  Charles 
Townshend,  one  of  the  recent  Grenville  ministry,  asked 
if  the  colonies  would  contribute  to  an  English  war  in 


408  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

Europe.  Franklin  replied  that  he  thought  they  would, 
according  to  their  ability;  that  they  considered  them 
selves  as  part  of  the  British  empire,  though  regarded  in 
England  as  foreigners  ;  that  in  1740,  in  the  war  with 
Spain,  having  been  called  on  for  aid  to  the  expedition 
against  Carthagena,  on  the  Spanish  Main,  in  South  Amer 
ica,  and  as  far  as  Europe  from  the  northern  colonies, 
they  sent  three  thousand  men  upon  that  ill-starred  enter 
prise  ;  that  although  the  recent  war  with  France  was 
commonly  spoken  of  in  England  as  having  been  waged 
for  the  sake  of  America,  that  point  was  misunderstood; 
that  it  sprang  from  a  question  of  limits  between  Nova 
Scotia  and  Canada,  involving  territory  claimed  by  the 
crown,  not  by  any  of  the  colonies,  and  in  which  no  colo 
nists  had  any  interest;  that  on  the  Ohio,  also,  hostilities 
sprang  from  French  encroachment  on  British  rights  in 
the  Indian  trade,  the  seizure  of  British  traders  and  their 
manufactures,  and  of  a  fort  (Du  Quesne)  erected  by  those 
traders  lo  protect  that  trade,  which  was  not  a  colonial 
but  a  British  interest  altogether  ;  that  it  was  only  after 
Braddock's  defeat,  that  the  colonies  were  molested  by 
the  Indians  or  the  French,  with  both  of  whom  they  had 
previously  been  at  peace.  Though  the  British  troops, 
therefore,  were  not  sent  out  for  the  sake  of  the  colonies, 
and  though  the  war  originated  wholly  on  British  account, 
yet  the  colonies  had  given  their  best  efforts  to  support  it 
and  bring  it  to  a  happy  issue. 

Another  adherent  of  the  Grenville  party,  Mr.  Nugent, 
having  asked  Franklin  if  he  could  deny  that  the  prece 
ding  war  with  Spain  was  waged  for  the  sake  of  America, 
caused  as  it  was  by  Spanish  captures  made  in  American 
seas  — "  Yes,"  said  franklin,  "  caused  by  the  capture  of 
British  ships  carrying  on  a  British  trade  there  with  Brit 
ish  manufactures."  Mr,  Grenville  then  asking  if  the  re 
cent  Indian  war,  since  the  peace  with  France,  was  not 


EXAMINATION    BEFORE    PARLIAMENT.  409 

for  America  only  —  that  war,  said  Franklin,  was  but 
the  sequel  of  the  other,  and  the  colonies  bore  much  the 
larger  share  of  the  cost,  having  been  ended  by  General 
Bouquet  with  a  force  of  above  a  thousand  Pennsylva- 
nians,  and  only  about  three  hundred  regulars  —  for  the 
small  garrisons  stationed  at  Niagara  and  Detroit,  solely 
to  protect  the  British  trade  with  the  Indians,  should  not 
be  counted  ;  and  being  then  asked  if  troops  from  Eng 
land  were  not  necessary  to  defend  the  colonies  against 
the  Indians  —  "  No,  by  no  means,"  replied  Franklin,  "  it 
never  was  necessary.  They  defended  themselves,  when 
but  a  handful,  and  when  the  Indians  were  much  more 
numerous,  and  had  driven  them  over  the  mountains,  with 
out  troops  from  England,  and  there  is  not  the  least  occa 
sion  for  them  now."  Being  asked  by  Mr.  Ellis,  another 
member  of  the  stamp-act  ministry,  if  the  colonial  Assem 
blies  knew  that  the  English  statute  called  the  Declaration 
of  Rights  forbids  the  raising  money  from  any  subject 
except  by  act  of  Parliament — Franklin  replied  that  they 
knew  it  well ;  that  they  held  that  statute  to  be  an  essen 
tial  part  of  the  British  constitution,  but  that  it  applied 
only  to  subjects  within  the  realm;  that  the  colonies  were 
not  within  the  realm,  any  more  than  Ireland,  but  had 
their  own  Parliaments,  or  Assemblies,  which,  in  conform 
ity  with  the  spirit  of  the  great  statute  cited,  and  by  their 
own  charters,  were  vested  with  the  power  to  tax  their 
respective  constituents,  the  people  represented  by  them, 
while  the  Parliament  of  Great  Britain  had  no  right  to 
levy  an  internal  tax,  either  in  Ireland  or  the  colonies, 
until  they  were  represented  in  that  body :  for  the  Decla 
ration  of  Rights  expressly  says  that  such  taxes  can  only 
be  laid  by  common  consent,  and  they  had  no  representa 
tives  in  that  body  to  give  their  part  of  that  common  con 
sent  ;  that  in  raising  supplies  on  requisition,  though  the 
grant  was,  in  terms,  "  to  the  king,"  yet  his  requisition 
35 


410  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

usually  designated  the  occasion,  and  the  money  was 
raised  in  such  way  as  the  Assemblies  themselves  might 
deem  most  convenient  to  their  constituents;  that  if  the 
stamp-act  were  repealed,  and  the  king  should  ask,  in  the 
usual  way,  for  money  from  the  colonies,  he  believed  they 
would  grant  it,  for  the  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania  had 
expressly  instructed  him,  as  their  agent,  to  say  so,  and 
he  had  communicated  such  instruction,  before  the  passage 
of  the  stamp-act,  to  the  minister  who  introduced  it. 

Being  asked  if  the  Pennsylvania  Assembly  would  re 
scind  their  resolutions,  provided  Parliament  would  repeal 
the  stamp-act,  he  said  he  thought  not ;  and  being  further 
asked  if  he  did  not  know  that  there  was  a  clause  in  the 
Pennsylvania  charter  expressly  reserving  to  Parliament 
the  right  to  levy  taxes  there,  he  answered  that  there  was 
a  clause  by  which  the  king  covenants  that  he  would  levy 
no  taxes  there,  unless  with  the  consent  of  the  Assembly, 
or  by  act  of  Parliament ;  that  the  Assembly  interpreted 
that  clause  in  connection  with  Magna  Charta,  the  Peti 
tion  and  Declaration  of  Rights,  and  other  fundamental 
parts  of  the  British  constitution,  defining  the  rights  and 
liberties  of  Englishmen ;  that  it  is  one  of  the  rights  thus 
secured,  that  they  can  not  be  taxed  but  by  their  common 
consent,  which  necessarily  implied  representation,  as  al 
ready  explained. 

It  was  then  asked  if  the  words  of  the  charter  to  Penn 
expressed  any  distinction  between  internal  and  external 
taxes,  and  if,  by  his  interpretation,  the  Assembly  might  not 
object  to  the  latter  class  of  taxes  as  well  as  the  former. 
To  this  Franklin  significantly  replied  :  "  Many  arguments 
have  been  lately  used  here  to  show  the  Americans  that 
there  is  no  difference,  and  that  if  you  have  no  right  to  tax 
them  internally,  you  have  none  to  tax  them  externally, 
or  make  any  other  law  to  bind  them.  At  present,  they 
do  not  reason  so  ;  but,  in  time,  they  may  possibly  ~be  con- 


RESULT  OF  THE  EXAMINATION.          411 

vinced  by  these  arguments."  The  question  being  again 
pressed  whether,  if  the  stamp-act  were  repealed,  the 
Assemblies  would  erase  their  resolutions,  he  replied — 
"  No,  never  ;"  and  being  then  asked  if  there  was  a  power 
on  earth  that  could  force  them  to  do  so,  he  answered  — 
"  None  that  I  know  of;  no  power,  how  great  soever,  can 
force  men  to  change  their  opinions."  The  examination 
closed  with  recurring  again  to  the  former  and  existing 
tone  of  feeling  among  the  colonists  toward  the  mother- 
country,  which  Franklin  illustrated  by  saying  that  "it 
used  to  be  their  pride  to  indulge  in  her  fashions  and 
manufactures  ;  but  now  it  was  their  pride  to  wear  their 
old  clothes  till  they  could  make  new  ones." 

The  effect  of  this  examination  on  the  members  of  Par 
liament  was  obvious  and  powerful.  Many  British  mer 
chants,  also,  engaged  in  the  American  trade,  sent  in  pe 
titions  in  aid  of  those  from  the  colonies  ;  and  when  the 
bill  for  repealing  the  stamp-act  was  taken  up,  though  the 
late  ministers  and  their  adherents  opposed  it  with  great 
violence,  yet,  after  a  debate  of  much  vehemence,  it  was 
carried  through  both  houses,  and  received  the  king's  as 
sent  about  the  middle  of  March.  Writing  to  his  old 
Philadelphia  friend  Roberts,  on  the  27th  of  February, 
1766,  just  after  the  repeal-bill  had  passed  the  house  of 
commons,  Franklin  says  :  "  I  hope  I  have  done  even  my 
enemies  some  service  in  our  struggle  for  America.  It 
has  been  a  hard  one,  and  we  have  been  often  between 
hope  and  despair;  but  now  the  day  begins  to  clear.  .  .  . 
The  partisans  of  the.  late  ministry  have  been  strongly 
crying  out,  '  Rebellion  !'  and  calling  for  force  to  be  sent 
against  America.  The  consequence  might  have  been 
terrible,  but  milder  measures  have  prevailed."  After 
the  bill  had  become  a  law,  lie  wrote  to  his  wife,  on  the 
6th  of  April :  "As  the  stamp-act  is  at  length  repealed,  I 
am  willing  you  should  have  a  new  gown,  which  you  may 


412  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

suppose  I  aid  not  send  sooner,  as  I  knew  you  would  not 
like  to  be  finer  than  your  neighbors,  unless  in  a  gown  of 
your  own  spinning.  Had  the  trade  between  the  two 
countries  totally  ceased,  it  was  a  comfort  to  me  to  recol 
lect  that  I  had  once  been  clothed  from  head  to  foot  in 
woollen  and  linen  of  my  wife's  manufacture  —  that  I 
never  was  prouder  of  any  dress  in  my  life  —  and  that 
she  and  her  daughter  might  do  it  again,  if  necessary." 

The  news  of  the  repeal  of  the  stamp-act —  "  that  moth 
er  of  mischiefs,"  as  Franklin  styled  it  in  a  letter  to  a 
friend  in  Boston  —  and  of  the  conspicuous  and  most  effec 
tive  services  by  which  he  had  contributed  to  that  repeal, 
filled  his  friends  in  America  with  the  liveliest  exultation. 
One  of  those  friends,  Joseph  Galloway,  an  able  and  ac 
tive  man,  writing  to  Franklin's  son,  then  governor  of  New 
Jersey,"  under  date  of  the  29th  of  April,  says  :  "It  gives 
me  a  pleasure  I  can  not  well  express,  to  hear  that  Dr. 
Franklin  was  examined  at  the  bar  of  the  house  of  com 
mons.  Dr.  Fothergill  writes  thus  to  William  Logan, 
and  that  he  gave  '  such  distinct,  clear,  and  satisfactory 
answers  to  every  interrogatory,  and  spoke  his  sentiments 
on  the  subject  with  such  perspicuity  and  firmness,  as  did 
him  the  highest  honor,  and  was  of  the  greatest  service  to 
the  American  cause.'  "  The  letters  from  Dr.  Fothergill, 
Whitefield,  and  others  present  at  the  examination,  were 
full  of  praise  and  admiration  for  the  manner  in  which 
Franklin  acquitted  himself  on  that  occasion.  One  says  : 
"  Our  worthy  friend,  Dr.  Franklin,  has  gained  immortal 
honor  by  his  behavior  at  the  bar  of  the  house.  The  an 
swerer  was  always  found  equal  if  not  superior  to  the 
questioner.  He  stood  unappalled,  gave  pleasure  to  his 
friends,  and  did  honor  to  his  country."  Another  says  : 
"  I  can  safely  assert,  from  my  own  personal  knowledge, 
that  Dr.  Franklin  did  all  in  his  power  to  prevent  the 
stamp-act  from  passing;  that  he  waited  upon  the  minis- 


FRANKLIN'S  SERVICES  ACKNOWLEDGED.          413 

try  that  then  was,  to  inform  them  fully  of  its  mischievous 
tendency  ;  that  he  has  uniformly  opposed  it  to  the  utmost 
of  his  ability  ;  and  that  in  a  long  examination  before  the 
house  of  commons,  he  asserted  the  rights  and  privileges 
of  America  with  the  utmost  firmness,  resolution,  and  ca 
pacity:"  and  another,  after  similar  statements,  adds: 
"  He  did  himself  great  credit,  and  served  your  cause  not 
a  little.  I  believe  he  has  left  nothing  undone  that  he 
imagined  would  serve  his  country."  The  examination 
being  published  a  few  months  afterward,  it  was  imme 
diately  translated  into  French  and  circulated  over  Eu 
rope.  When  the  news,  that  the  bill  repealing  the  stamp- 
act  had  been  consummated  by  the  assent  of  the  king, 
reached  America  in  authentic  form,  the  colonial  Assem 
blies  passed  resolutions  of  thanks  to  the  king  and  Parlia 
ment  ;  and  they  expressed  also  their  deep  sense  of  the 
service  rendered  by  Franklin  to  the  general  cause  of 
American  rights.  In  Pennsylvania,  the  acknowledgments 
of  the  great  services  of  their  agent  were  peculiarly  warm, 
not  only  from  the  Assembly,  but  on  the  part  of  the  in 
habitants.  Philadelphia  was  illuminated  ;  and  on  the 
4th  of  June,  the  king's  birthday,  the  occasion  was  cele 
brated  by  a  feast  on  the  banks  of  the  Schuylkill.  A  ves 
sel  named  the  "  Franklin"  took  a  throng  of  his  friends  to 
the  banquet ;  the  royal  family,  the  Parliament,  the  prom 
inent  advocates  of  the  act  of  repeal,  were  toasted  and 
saluted  with  artillery,  and  Franklin's  name  especially 
was,  there  and  everywhere,  "freshly  remembered."  In 
deed,  a  large  portion  of  the  proprietary  party,  the  well- 
meaning  men,  who  had  been  misled  by  false  representa 
tions  of  Franklin's  motives  and  conduct,  now  came  to 
the  knowledge  of  so  much  evidence  of  his  disinterested 
zeal  and  efficient  effort  in  behalf  of  colonial  rights,  that 
they  laid  aside  their  prejudices  ;  and  only  a  few  ambi 
tious  and  mercenary  men,  who  could  not  forgive  him  for 
3,5* 


414  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

his  merits  and  his  fame,  remained  openly  hostile  to  him. 
And  although  the  Grenville  party,  by  their  gross  mis 
representations  of  the  state  of  facts  and  feelings  in  the 
colonies,  and  by  their  appeals,  both  in  Parliament  and 
through  the  press,  to  the  national  pride  of  the  English 
people,  aided  undoubtedly  by  some  unnecessary  and  im 
prudent  heat  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Pitt,  in  denouncing  them 
and  their  policy,  had  succeeded  in  carrying  a  declaratory 
act  affirming  the  right  of  Parliament  to  bind  the  colonies 
in  all  cases  whatsoever  —  yet  this  assertion  of  an  abstract 
principle,  though  it  cast  at  once  some  shade  of  appre 
hension  over  the  minds  of  all  reflecting  men,  did  not,  for 
the  time,  appear  to  repress  the  public  joy  for  the  practi 
cal  benefit  obtained  in  the  repeal  of  the  stamp-act,  which 
was  greeted  as  a  token  that,  whatever  might  be  the  ab 
stract  claims  in  behalf  of  British  sovereignty,  the  attempt 
to  enforce  them  by  actual  legislation  would  be  relin 
quished  as  an  unwise  policy. 

In  the  midst  of  his  strenuous  and  multifarious  exertions 
in  the  cause  of  the  colonies,  however,  Franklin  did  not 
wholly  suspend  his  philosophic  correspondence.  One  of 
his  letters,  written  in  the  summer  of  1765,  on  the  char 
acter  of  the  old  and  simple  Scottish  tunes,  is  too  remark 
able  to  be  passed  without  notice.  This  topic  was  sug 
gested  by  some  remarks  on  music,  as  an  object  of  taste, 
as  well  as  a  source  of  enjoyment,  in  the  "  Elements  of 
Criticism"  by  Lord  Kames,  to  whom  Franklin  addressed 
his  letter.  He  holds  that  the  pleasure  derived  by  artists 
and  other  practised  musicians,  from  pieces  of  great  com 
pass  and  intricate  variety,  does  not  arise  from  either  the 
melody  or  the  harmony  of  the  sounds,  but  from  the  skill 
and  dexterity  displayed  in  the  performance  of  difficult 
passages,  and  is  similar,  in  kind,  to  the  pleasure  derived 
from  the  wonderful  feats  of  agility  and  hazard  performed 
by  rope-dancers  and  tumblers  ;  and  that  it  is  for  the  want 


THE  OLD  SCOTTISH  TUNES.  415 

of  training  in  the  difficult  parts  of  music,  that  people 
who  have  only  a  natural  ear  for  the  "  concord  of  sweet 
sounds,"  do  not  enjoy  these  intricacies  of  musical  com 
position,  while  the  natural  melodies  and  simple  harmonies 
of  the  traditionary  airs  mentioned,  fill  them  with  delight. 
After  quoting  the  remark  of  Kames  that  "  melody  and 
harmony  are  separately  agreeable,  and  in  union  delight 
ful,"  Franklin  proceeds  with  characteristic  acuteness  and 
good  sense,  to  analyze  the  tunes  in  question  and  the 
pleasure  they  impart,  substantially  as  follows  :  He  main 
tains  that  those  tunes  do,  in  fact,  present  the  very  union 
suggested  by  Kames,  not  simultaneously,  indeed,  but  in 
succession  ;  and  he  explains  this  seeming  paradox  by  say 
ing  that,  although  in  strictness  melody  is  a  succession  of 
musical  sounds,  and  harmony  their  coexistence,  yet,  as  the 
mind  retains  a  perfect  idea  of  the  pitch  of  each  note  in  a 
series  till  the  next  note  is  sounded,  those  notes  are  as 
truly  compared,  and  the  enjoyment  arising  from  their 
harmony  is  the  same,  as  if  they  were  both  sounded  to 
gether. 

To  show  the  correctness  of  his  position,  he  refers  to 
the  readiness  with  which  a  note,  on  being  sounded,  is  re 
peated  in  the  same  pitch,  whether  by  the  voice  or  the 
string  of  an  instrument ;  and  to  the  fact  that,  when  two 
notes  are  not  in  unison,  though  the  dissonance  is  per 
ceived  when  they  are  sounded  together,  yet  which  is 
wrong  is  perceived  only  when  they  are  sounded  succes 
sively.  These  perceptions,  moreover,  he  thinks  are  not 
merely  recollected,  but  arise  from  a  continuance  of  those 
vibrations  of  the  ear-drum,  by  which  the  sensation  of 
sound  is  excited  in  the  auditory  nerve  ;  as,  with  the  other 
organs  of  sense,  the  impressions  made  on  them  remain 
more  or  less  distinct  for  a  time  after  the  several  objects 
producing  them  are  removed. 

Having  established  this  point  in  the  philosophy  of  mu- 


416  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

sical  perception,  he  proceeds  to  show  that,  in  the  com 
position  of  the  tunes  in  question,  "  almost  every  succeed 
ing  emphatical  note  is  a  third,  a  fifth,  an  octave,  or  some 
note  in  concord  with  the  preceding  note ;  thirds,  which 
are  very  pleasing  notes,  being  chiefly  used."  Moreover, 
when  it  is  considered  that  these  tunes  were  composed  by 
ancient  minstrels,  to  be  played  on  the  harp,  accompanied 
by  the  voice,  the  harmonical  succession  of  notes  seems 
not  only  natural  but  necessary;  inasmuch  as  the  wire  of 
the  ancient  harp  prolonged  the  note,  and  had  no  means 
of  stopping  it  the  instant  a  succeeding  one  was  struck. 
"  To  avoid  actual  discord  it  was  therefore  necessary  that 
the  next  emphatic  note  should  be  a  chord  with  the  pre 
ceding  one,  as  their  sounds  must  exist  at  the  same  time." 
That  the  old  harp  was  "  of  the  simplest  kind,  without 
any  half-notes  but  those  in  the  natural  scale,  with  no 
more  than  two  octaves  of  strings,  from  C  to  C,"  he  infers 
from  the  fact  that  "  not  one  of  those  tunes,  really  ancient, 
has  a  single  artificial  half-note  in  it,  and  that  in  cases 
where  it  was  most  convenient  for  the  voice  to  use  the 
middle  notes  of  the  harp,  and  place  the  key  in  F,jhe  B, 
which  if  used  should  be  a  B  flat,  is  always  omitted,  by 
passing  over  it  with  a  third." 

Such  is  the  physical  analysis;  and  thence,  says  Frank 
lin,  "  arose  the  beauty  in  those  tunes  that  have  so  long 
pleased,  and  will  please  for  ever,  though  men  scarcely 
know  why."  It  may  be  added  these  airs  are  marked  by 
a  singleness  of  character  answering  to  the  several  emo 
tions  they  are  intended  to  express  ;  and  being  thus  found 
in  unison  with  our  moral  as  well  as  our  organic  struc 
ture,  they  are  intelligible  to  all,  and  obtain  the  response 
of  all  hearts. 


VISIT    TO    THE    CONTINENT.  417 


CHAPTER   XXV. 

VISIT    TO    THE    CONTINENT TRUE     RELATIONS     OF    AMER 
ICA     TO     ENGLAND VISITS    PARIS CHANGES     IN     THE 

CABINET LORD     HILLSBOROUGH VISIT     TO      IRELAND 

LIGHTNING-RODS    FOR    POWDER  MAGAZINES HE    AD 
VISES    FIRMNESS    AND    MODERATION    IN    AMERICA THE 

HUTCHINSON     LETTERS INEFFECTUAL     ATTEMPTS     AT 

CONCILIATION RETURNS    HOME. 

Franklin's  arduous  exertions  during  the  pendency  of 
the  stamp-act  question,  not  only  in  the  long  and  exciting 
examination  before  the  house  of  commons,  but  in  urging 
upon  ministers  and  other  leading  men,  in  personal  inter 
views  as  well  as  private  correspondence,  and  upon  the 
public  through  the  press,  the  multifarious  considerations 
which  ought  to  insure  the  repeal  of  the  obnoxious  act, 
seriously  impaired  his  health.  "Writing  to  his  wife  on 
the  13th  of  June,  1766,  he  says  :  "  I  wrote  you  that  I 
had  been  very  ill  lately.  I  am  now  nearly  well  again, 
but  feeble.  To-morrow  I  set  out  with  my  friend  Dr. 
Pringle  (now  Sir  John)  on  a  journey  to  Pyrmont,  where 
he  goes  to  drink  the  waters."  Franklin  having,  the  year 
before,  omitted  taking  one  of  his  customary  annual  jour 
neys,  had  felt  the  bad  effect  of  that  omission  on  his  health 
very  sensibly,  as  he  thought,  during  the  preceding  win 
ter  and  spring ;  and  in  this  excursion  to  the  continent  he 
looked  for  benefit,  not  to  the  waters  his  friend  was  seek 
ing,  but  to  the  exercise  of  travel,  the  change  of  air,  new 
scenes,  and  more  agreeable  and  varied  forms  of  mental 


418  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

entertainment.  He  was  absent  about  two  montbs,  and 
spent  the  time  chiefly  in  Hanover  and  the  north  of 
Germany.  Wherever  he  went  he  was  received  with  dis 
tinguished  attention  by  the  learned  ;  for  his  fame  had 
been  long  spread  throughout  Europe,  and  his  merits  as 
a  philosopher  were  more  highly  and  therefore  more  justly 
appreciated  on  the  continent  than  in  Great  Britain.  No 
details  of  this  journey  are  to  be  found  among  his  wri 
tings  ;  but  there  is  a  letter,  in  Latin,  from  Professor 
Hartman,  of  the  university  of  Gottingen,  received  by 
Franklin  some  months  afterward,  which  well  exemplifies 
the  exalted  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  by  the  learned 
Germans.  The  professor  speaks  of  the  great  pleasure 
with  which  he  recollected  the  day  on  which  he  first  saw 
and  conversed  with  him ;  of  his  deep  regret  at  not  hav 
ing  been  able  then  to  show  him  any  new  experiments 
in  electricity  worthy  of  his  attention  ;  that  the  prince 
Schw-artzenburg  of  Rudolstadt,  (who  corresponded  with 
the  professor,)  on  hearing  of  Franklin's  visit  to  Germany, 
had  expressed  his  earnest  wish  to  become  personally 
acquainted  with  him,  and  for  that  purpose  had  sent  a 
learned  friend  to  Gottingen  with  his  salutations,  who  ar 
rived  the  very  day  of  Franklin's  departure ;  that  as  the 
prince  had  requested  of  the  professor  directions  for  the 
most  proper  form  of  the  lightning-rod,  which  he  wished 
to  introduce  into  his  own  territories,  the  professor  so 
licited  from  Franklin  his  most  matured  views  on  that 
point ;  that  as  he  contemplated  writing  a  complete  his 
tory  of  electricity,  and  as  there  was  no  name  connected 
with  that  subject  so  great  as  Franklin's,  he  begged  of 
him  an  account  of  his  first  experiments  and  discoveries  ; 
that  he  relied  on  Franklin's  goodness  to  excuse  so  bold 
a  request;  that  compliance  with  it  would  give  him  great 
happiness,  and  that  he  should  always  be  glad  of  any  op 
portunity  to  promote  his  wishes. 


VIEWS    OF    LORD    KAMES.  419 

Franklin,  on  his  return  to  England,  upon  this  second 
mission,  having  renewed  his  correspondence  with  Lord 
Kames,  received  a  letter,  written  a  little  before  the  ex 
amination  in  the  house  of  commons,  in  which  that  lib 
eral-minded  nobleman   expressed   his  views  very  freely 
on  the  American  question.      The  general  accordance  of 
those  views  with  his  own  gratified  Franklin  exceedingly, 
but  he  saw  mingled  with  them  several  mistakes,  derived 
from  the  English  press,  concerning  some  important  facts  ; 
and  to  set  his  friend  right,  he  sent,  with  his  reply,  a  re 
port  of  the  examination  mentioned.     In  his  reply  he  ob 
served  also  that  it  had  become  particularly  important  that 
"  clear  ideas  should  be  formed  on  solid  principles,  both 
in  Britain  and  America,  of  the  true  political  relation  be 
tween  them,  and  the  mutual  duties  belonging  to  that  re 
lation  ;"  and  he  therefore  urged  his  lordship  to  consider 
the  subject  deliberately  and  fully,  as,  from  his  high  ju 
dicial  position,  his  abilities,  and  impartiality,  he  was  pe 
culiarly  well  qualified  to  render  the  nation  very  great 
service.     It  seems  that  Lord  Kames  had,  in  his  letter, 
expressed  himself  in  favor  of  such  a  union  between  the 
two  countries  as  should  give  the  colonies  their  just  pro 
portion  of  representatives  in  Parliament.      To  this  view 
Franklin,  in  his   reply,  fully  assents,  (it  was,  indeed,  as 
we  have  seen,  one  he  had  long  held,)  as  "the  only  firm, 
basis  on  which  the  political  grandeur  and  prosperity  of 
the  empire  could  be  founded  ;"  that  the  colonies  would 
once  have  gladly  adopted  it,  but   had  now  become  in 
different  to  it,  and,  if  much  longer  delayed,  would  re 
ject  it;  that  the  pride  of  England  would  delay  it,  and  it 
would   never  take  effect.       He   adds  :  "  Every  man   in 
England  seems  to  consider  himself  as  a  piece  of  a  sov 
ereign  over  America ;    seems  to  jostle  himself  into  the 
throne  with  the  king,  and  talks  of  our  subjects  in  the  colo 
nies.     The  Parliament  can   not  well  and  wisely  make 


420  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

laws  suited  to  the  colonies,  without  being  properly  and 
truly  informed  of  their  circumstances,  ability,  temper, 
&c.  This  it  can  not  be,  without  representatives  from 
them  ;  and  yet  it  [Parliament]  is  fond  of  this  power,  and 
averse  to  the  only  means  of  acquiring  the  necessary 
knowledge  for  exercising  it ;  which  is  desiring  to  be  om 
nipotent  without  being  omniscient"  In  the  course  of  his 
letter,  which  is  long  and  able,  he  sketches  the  history  of 
the  colonies  ;  exposes  the  gross  mistake,  which  had  be 
come  quite  common  in  England,  that  they  had  been 
planted  and  fostered  by  Parliament,  whereas,  they  were 
planted  solely  at  the  expense  and  risk  of  private  persons, 
with  the  assent  of  the  king  and  under  charters  from  him; 
and  on  those  conditions  consented  to  continue  the  king's 
subjects,  though  in  a  foreign  country,  which  had  not  been 
conquered  by  England,  to  which  she  had  no  claim  of  any 
kind  beyond  the  naked,  abstract  claim  of  discovery,  and 
where  there  was  no  proprietorship  in  the  soil  except  that 
of  the  colonists,  who  purchased,  settled,  defended,  and 
enlarged  their  territories  with  their  own  individual  means 
and  at  their  own  personal  peril.  In  fact,  Parliament  had 
never  been  consulted  on  the  subject,  at  any  time  or  in 
any  manner,  either  by  colonist  or  king,  and  had  never 
noticed  the  colonies  at  all,  until  long  after  they  had  thus 
become  established,  and  began  to  present  temptations  to 
the  covetousness  of  wealth  and  power — to  promise  ad 
vantages  to  the  commerce  of  the  mother-country,  and 
aggrandizement  to  her  ambitious  statesmen  and  their 
partisans.  The  colonists,  having  taken  their  charters 
from  the  king,  and  having  thus  acknowledged  allegiance 
to  him  as  their  common  sovereign,  with  the  express  right 
of  legislating  upon  their  own  internal  affairs  in  their  own 
Assemblies,  made  up  of  representatives  chosen  by  them 
selves,  associated  with  governors  and  judges  represent 
ing  the  executive  and  judicial  authority  of  the  king,  they 


TRUE    POLITICAL    RELATIONS    OP    THE    COLONIES.      421 

constituted,  in  truth,  so  many  separate  states,  acknowl 
edging  one  common  sovereign,  indeed,  but  as  indepen 
dent  of  the  people  of  England  and  their  legislative  rep 
resentatives,  as  they  were  of  each  other,  or  as  were  the 
people  of  Scotland  prior  to  their  union,  or  as  the  people 
of  Ireland  and  of  Hanover  then  were. 

In  short,  the  people  of  America,  in  their  respective 
colonies,  stood  on  the  same  footing  of  equality  with  the 
people  of  England,  being  subjects  of  the  same  king,  but 
having  their  own  separate  constitutions,  that  is  to  say, 
their  charters,  which  secured  to  them,  in  express  terms, 
the  right  of  legislating  for  themselves  by  representatives 
of  their  own  choice,  and  managing  their  own  affairs  in 
all  respects  independently  of  the  representatives  of  their 
English  fellow-subjects ;  and  whatever  powers  the  king 
himself  possessed,  were  vested  in  him,  in  point  of  fact, 
by  their  own  consent,  through  the  charters  they  held 
from  him,  and  by  all  those  parts  of  the  British  constitu 
tion  itself  which  limited  or  in  any  way  affected  the  royal 
prerogative.  This  was  the  broad  and  free  basis  of  equal 
rights  on  which  Franklin  and  other  eminent  American 
patriots,  but  he  among  the  first  and  most  influential 
of  them  all,  placed  the  colonies;  on  which  the  people  of 
those  colonies,  under  such  guidance,  fast  rallied  ;  and  on 
which  they  stood  with  unshaken  firmness,  at  the  ultimate 
peril  of  "  their  lives,  their  fortunes,  and  their  sacred 
honor." 

At  the  time  now  spoken  of,  however,  though  Franklin 
and  some  of  his  great  compatriots  were  resolved  to  main 
tain  the  ground  described,  at  every  hazard,  yet  none  of 
them  had  yet  begun  to  broach  the  doctrine  of  absolute 
independence.  They  thought  not  merely  that  the  colo 
nies  were  not  yet  strong  enough  for  a  total  rupture  with 
the  mother-country,  but  that  their  connection  might  still 
be  rendered  more  useful  to  America,  as  well  as  to  Brit- 
36 


422  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

ain,  if  the  statesmen  of  the  latter  could  be  induced  to 
adopt  wise  counsels,  waive  their  extravagant  claims  of 
power,  and  pursue  a  liberal  and  conciliatory  policy.  To 
attain  this  purpose,  they  labored  in  good  faith  toward 
both  parties,  pressing  their  arguments  with  earnest  and 
honest  zeal,  and  occasionally  uttering  their  warnings  with 
manly  boldness  and  prophetic  sagacity.  A  passage  in 
the  latter  tone  occurs  near  the  close  of  the  letter  to  Lord 
Kames,  and  it  marks  the  forecast  of  Franklin  too  strongly 
to  be  omitted.  Having  intimated  that  the  union  men 
tioned  was  probably  more  important,  after  all,  to  Britain 
than  to  America,  he  proceeds  :  "  America  may  suffer  at 
present  under  the  arbitrary  power  of  this  country;  she 
may  suffer,  for  a  while,  in  a  separation  from  it ;  but  these 
are  temporary  evils  which  she  will  outgrow.  Scotland 
and  Ireland  are  differently  circumstanced.  Confined  by 
the  sea,  they  can  scarcely  increase  in  numbers,  wealth, 
and  strength,  so  as  to  overbalance  England.  But  Amer 
ica,  an  immense  territory,  favored  by  nature  with  all  ad 
vantages  of  climate,  soils, -great  navigable  rivers,  lakes, 
&c.,  must  become  a  great  country,  populous  and  mighty  ; 
and  will,  in  less  time  than  is  generally  conceived,  be  able 
to  shake  off  any  shackles  that  may  be  imposed  upon  her, 
and  perhaps  place  them  on  the  imposers.  In  the  mean 
time,  every  act  of  oppression  will  sour  the  tempers  of 
her  people,  lessen  greatly  if  not  annihilate  the  profits  of 
your  commerce  with  them,  and  hasten  their  final  revolt; 
for  the  seeds  of  liberty  are  universally  found  there,  and 
nothing  can  eradicate  them.  And  yet  there  remains 
among  that  people  so  much  respect,  veneration,  and  af 
fection  for  Britain,  that,  if  cultivated  prudently,  with  kind 
usage  and  tenderness  for  their  privileges,  they  might 
be  easily  governed  still  for  ages,  without  force,  or  any 
considerable  expense.  But  I  do  not  see  here  a  suf- 


VISIT    TO    PARIS.  423 

ficient  quantity  of  the  wisdom  necessary  to  produce  such 
conduct." 

In  the  autumn  of  1767,  Franklin,  in  company  with  his 
friend  Sir  John  Pringle,  took  an  excursion  to  France. 
The  French  embassador,  M.  Durand,  who  had  become 
much  interested  in  American  affairs  and  cultivated  Frank 
lin's  society,  furnished  him  with  many  letters  of  intro 
duction,  and  when  he  arrived  at  Paris,  he  was  treated 
with  much  distinction.  He  visited  Versailles,  where, 
with  his  friend,  he  was  presented  to  the  royal  family  ; 
and  besides  seeing  whatever  was  curious  or  striking  in 
the  capital,  he  formed  many  valuable  acquaintances.  In 
a  letter  to  Miss  Stevenson,  giving  her  a  pleasant  account 
of  this  jaunt,  he  says  of  French  manners  :  "  The  civili 
ties  we  everywhere  receive  give  us  the  strongest  impres 
sions  of  French  politeness.  It  seems  to  be  a  point  set 
tled  here  universally  that  strangers  are  to  be  treated  with 
respect;  and  one  has  the  same  deference  shown  him  here 
by  being  a  stranger,  as  in  England  by  being  a  lady." 
His  visit  gratified  him  very  much,  and  in  the  letter  just 
mentioned  he  remarks  that  "  travelling  is  one  way  of 
lengthening  life,  at  least  in  appearance.  It  is  but  about 
a  fortnight  since  we  left  London,  but  the  variety  of  scenes 
we  have  gone  through  makes  it  seem  equal  to  six  months 
living  in  one  place." 

A  recent  act  of  Parliament  laying  duties  on  certain 
articles  imported  into  the  colonies,  and  providing  for  a 
board  of  commissioners  to  be  sent  out  from  England  to  col 
lect  those  duties,  with  some  other  enactments  taking  from 
the  colonial  Assemblies  their  long-exercised  privilege 
of  fixing  as  well  as  paying  the  salaries  of  their  governors, 
judges,  and  other  officers,  and  transferring  the  fixing 
of  the  amount  of  such  salaries  to  the  king,  had  produced 
great  excitement  in  the  colonies.  This  power  in  the  As 
semblies  had  been  useful  in  giving  them  some  control  over 


424  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

the  conduct  of  the  officers  in  question.  The  action  of  Par 
liament  in  this  matter  gave  them  much  dissatisfaction,  and 
resolutions  of  a  bold  and  high-toned  character,  recommend 
ing  measures  to  encourage  the  products  and  manufactures 
of  their  own  people  and  diminish  the  use  of  imports,  were 
passed  at  Boston,  which,  on  reaching  England,  roused 
the  pride  and  embittered  the  animosity  of  the  ministers 
and  the  party  by  which  the  acts  in  question  had  been 
passed,  and  embarrassed  also  the  friends  of  a  more  lib 
eral  colonial  policy.  To  appease  the  feelings  thus  ex 
asperated  by  the  Boston  resolutions,  and  to  give  the 
English  public  a  correct  view  of  the  state  of  sentiment 
in  the  colonies,  Franklin  wrote  a  valuable  paper  on  the 
"  Causes  of  the  American  Discontents  before  1768,"  and 
had  it  published  early  in  January,  1768,  just  as  Parlia 
ment  came  together.  Written  in  a  cool  and  candid  tem 
per,  it  traced  rapidly  but  clearly  the  progress  of  what 
the  Americans  deemed  British  encroachment ;  and  con 
trasted,  in  a  striking  manner,  the  content  of  the  colonies 
prior  to  the  stamp-act,  with  their  condition  since  :  and  its 
effect  was  such  as  to  calm  exasperation,  for  a  time  at  least, 
and  produce  a  somewhat  more  favorable  disposition  in 
regard  to  colonial  interests. 

The  Boston  resolutions,  however,  gave  a  strong  im 
pulse  to  the  other  colonies,  which  soon  followed  in  the 
expression  of  similar  sentiments.  Franklin,  writing  to 
his  son,  the  governor  of  New  Jersey,  on  this  subject,  in 
December,  1767,  says  :  "  If  our  people  should  follow  the 
Boston  example,  by  entering  into  resolutions  of  frugality 
and  industry,  full  as  necessary  for  us  as  for  them,  I  hope 
they  will  among  other  things  give  this  reason  :  that  it  is 
to  enable  them  more  speedily  to  discharge  their  debts  to 
Great  Britain."  This  prudent  and  honest  suggestion  of 
Franklin  harmonized,  as  it  subsequently  appeared,  with 
the  sentiments  of  Washington,  who,  when  the  people  of 


CHANGES    IN    THE    MINISTRY.  425 

Virginia  were  advised  to  put  a  stop  to  both  their  imports 
and  exports, with  the  design  of  procuring  the  repeal  of  the 
offensive  laws,  disapproved  of  the  latter  part  of  the  prop 
osition,  though  in  favor  of  the  former.  "  If  we  owe  money 
in  Great  Britain,"  said  he,  "  nothing  but  the  last  neces 
sity  can  justify  the  non-payment  of  it;  and  I  wish  to  see 
the  other  method  first  tried,  which  is  legal,  and  will  facil 
itate  the  payments." 

The  year  1768  opened  with  changes  in  the  ministry. 
These  proved  unfavorable  to  the  claims  of  the  colonies, 
not  only  because  some  of  the  Grenville  party  took  places, 
but  more  particularly  because,  in  the  department  of  co 
lonial  affairs,  Lord  Shelburne,  who  was  friendly  to  Amer 
ica,  and  a  man  of  even  temper  and  easy  of  access,  was 
superseded  by  Lord  Hillsborough,  who,  though  gener 
ally  deemed  a  man  of  abilities  and  probity,  was  stiff  in 
his  opinions,  pertinacious  as  to  forms,  liable  to  preju 
dice,  of  a  capricious  temper,  and  not  easily  accessible ; 
and  in  addition  to  all  this,  to  cite  the  authority  of  Mr. 
Johnson,  the  able  and  enlightened  agent  of  Connecticut, 
the  whole  business  of  the  colonies  had  necessarily  to  take 
new  channels  ;  new  connections  had  to  be  formed  ;  ne 
gotiations,  which  had  made  some  progress,  had  all  to  be 
commenced  anew,  and  great  delays  would  be  the  conse 
quence.  Besides,  when  the  question  concerning  the  re 
peal  of  the  act  of  Parliament  forbidding  the  issue  of 
paper-money  in  the  colonies,  was  brought  before  the 
board  of  trade,  in  the  previous  year,  Lord  Hillsborough, 
then  at  the  head  of  that  board,  had  drawn  a  report  strongly 
against  the  repeal  solicited  by  the  colonial  agents,  which 
report  Franklin  had  answered  in  a  paper  of  remarkable 
ability ;  and  though  his  lordship,  on  taking  charge  of 
American  affairs,  treated  Franklin  with  much  civility, 
yet  it  became  evident  before  long  that  the  masterly  an 
swer  of  the  colonial  agent  had  not  convinced  the  colonial 
36* 


426  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

secretary.  When,  however,  after  his  new  appointment, 
Franklin  waited  on  him,  he  admitted  that  the  answer  was 
an  able  one,  and  presented  stronger  reasons  in  favor  of 
the  currency  in  question  than  he  had  supposed  to  exist; 
and  at  the  same  interview,  Franklin  having  explained  to 
him  the  state  of  the  question  respecting  the  change  pe 
titioned  for  in  the  government  of  Pennsylvania,  the  new 
secretary  told  him  he  would  examine  the  subject  and 
confer  with  him  upon  it  again.  These  and  other  cir 
cumstances  gave  rise  to  a  rumor  that  Franklin  was  to  be 
appointed  under-secretary  to  Lord  Hillsborough  ;  on 
which  the  former  remarks,  in  a  letter  to  his  son,  that 
there  was  little  likelihood  of  it,  as  it  was  a  settled  point 
that  he  was  too  much  of  an  American. 

A  different  proposition,  however,- was  made  to  Frank 
lin,  which  involved  his  removal  as  head  of  the  American 
postoffice,  and  the  proffer  of  some  other  appointment, 
which,  though  not  mentioned,  seems  to  have  been  intend 
ed  to  be  such  a  one  as  would  withdraw  him  from  all  direct 
connection  with  American  aifairs.  But  he  neither  felt 
nor  showed  any  desire  for  office,  being  content  with 
his  position.  Indeed,  his  removal  from  his  place  as  dep 
uty-postmaster-general  of  the  colonies,  would  not  have 
given  him  any  chagrin,  as  he  wrote  to  his  son,  if  his  "  zeal 
for  America"  were  to  be  the  reason  ;  in  which,  as  he 
states,  "  some  of  my  friends  have  hinted  to  me  that  I 
have  been  too  open."  To  this  he  adds  a  remark  that 
shows  his  foresight,  at  that  early  and  comparatively  tran 
quil  day,  of  the  inevitable  result  of  the  doctrines  then 
held  by  the  British  government.  "  If  Mr.  Grenville," 
says  he,  "  comes  into  power  again,  in  any  department 
respecting  America,  I  must  refuse  accepting  anything 
that  may  seem  to  put  me  in  his  power,  because  /  appre 
hend  a  breach  between  the  two  countries;"  adding  —  "If 
it  were  not  for  the  flattering  expectation  that  by  being 


POLITICAL    PROSPECTS.  427 

here,  I  might  more  effectually  serve  my  country,  I 
should  certainly  determine  for  retirement,  without  a 
moment's  hesitation." 

Franklin's  enemies  in  Pennsylvania  endeavored  to 
use  this  rumor  of  proffered  ministerial  favors,  to  his  in 
jury  ;  but  their  efforts  were  unavailing.  So  strong  was 
he  in  the  confidence  of  his  countrymen  everywhere,  that 
in  the  summer  of  1768  he  received  from  the  governor  of 
Georgia  credentials  of  his  appointment  as  agent  for  that 
colony ;  while  every  arrival  from  Pennsylvania  and  the 
northern  colonies  furnished  fresh  evidence  of  their 
growing  esteem  for  him.  The  changes,  however,  in  the 
ministry,  which  had  taken  place,  and  were  anticipated, 
with  the  dissolution  of  Parliament  and  the  new  elections, 
had  produced  so  much  confusion  and  delay  in  public 
business,  that,  seeing  no  prospect  of  advancing  the  chief 
object  of  his  mission,  he  was  preparing  to  return  to 
America  when  the  appointment  from  Georgia  reached 
him  ;  and  though  his  private  affairs  made  him  anxious  to 
be  at  home,  yet  that  appointment,  together  with  the  ur 
gent  expostulations  of  the  friends  of  America,  and  a 
growing  apprehension  of  the  restoration  of  Mr.  Gren- 
ville  and  his  party  to  power,  induced  him  to  remain  in 
England  a  few  months  longer;  for,  as  he  observed  in  a 
letter  written  in  February,  1769,  to  Lord  Kames,  things 
were  daily  looking  worse,  with  an  increasing  tendency 
"  to  a  breach  and  final  separation." 

That  this  opinion  was  correct  became  still  more  evi 
dent  in  the  ensuing  spring.  Near  the  end  of  April  he 
wrote  to  a  friend  in  Boston  :  "  The  Parliament  remains 
fixed  in  the  resolution  not  to  repeal  the  duty  acts  this 
session,  arid  will  rise  next  Tuesday.  I  hope  my  coun 
trymen  will  remain  as  fixed  in  their  resolutions  of  indus 
try  and  frugality,  till  these  acts  are  repealed  ;  and,  if  I 
could  be  sure  of  that,  I  should  almost  wish  them  never 


428  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

to  be  repealed  ;  being  persuaded  that  we  shall  reap 
more  solid  and  extensive  advantages  from  the  steady 
practice  of  those  two  great  virtues,  than  we  can  suffer 
damage  from  all  the  duties  Parliament  can  levy  on  us. 
They  flatter  themselves  you  can  not  subsist  without  their 
manufactures ;  that  you  have  not  virtue  enough  to  per 
sist  in  such  agreements  ;  that  the  colonies  will  desert  one 
another,  and  return  to  the  use  of  British  fineries.  The 
ministerial  people  all  talk  in  this  strain,  and  many  even 
of  the  merchants.  I  have  ventured  to  assert  that  they 
will  all  find  themselves  mistaken."  His  confidence  in 
the  firmness  of  his  countrymen  was  well  vindicated  by 
their  conduct ;  and  from  a  letter  to  his  sister,  Mrs.  Me- 
com,  it  is  evident  that  the  women  of  America  were  as 
resolute  as  the  men  :  "  The  account  you  write,"  says  he, 
"  of  the  growing  industry,  frugality,  and  good  sense  of 
my  countrywomen,  gives  me  more  pleasure  than  you 
can  imagine  ;  for  from  thence  I  presage  great  advanta 
ges  to  our  country."  He  wrote  to  the  same  effect  to 
the  committee  of  merchants  in  Philadelphia,  and  that  if 
the  people  would  steadily  persist  in  "  using  colony  man 
ufactures  only,  it  would,  he  trusted,  be  the  means,  under 
God,  of  recovering  and  establishing  the  freedom  of  the 
country  entire,  and  handing  it  down  to  posterity." 

Franklin,  who  was  ever  intent  on  being  useful,  and 
had  urged,  on  various  occasions,  and  with  much  earnest 
ness,  the  cultivation  of  silk  in  the  colonies,  sent,  in  Sep 
tember,  1769,  to  his  friend  and  correspondent,  Dr.  Evans, 
of  Philadelphia,  an  elaborate  treatise,  then  recently  pub 
lished  in  France,  on  the  management  of  silk-worms, 
with  a  letter  from  himself  giving  some  account  of  the 
other  processes  in  the  production  of  silk  and  sending  it 
to  market.  The  British  government  had  offered  a  boun 
ty  on  the  raw  silk  from  the  colonies,  and  Franklin  be 
lieved  them  peculiarly  well  adapted  to  the  production 


SILK NEW   JERSEY    AGENCY.  429 

of  it.  In  his  letter  he  expresses  the  opinion  that,  if  the 
assembly  of  Pennsylvania  would  make  some  provision 
to  encourage  the  planting  of  mulberry-trees  in  the  prov 
ince,  the  chief  difficulty  would  be  overcome.  Silk  he 
considered  as  "the  happiest  of  all  inventions  for  cloth 
ing."  While  wool  requires  much  land  for  its  produc 
tion,  the  sheep  yield  but  little  food,  compared  to  the 
quantity  the  same  land  would  supply  in  grain  ;  and  that 
flax  and  hemp  not  only  impoverish  the  richest  soil,  but 
they  supply  no  food  at  all ;  while  the  mulberry-tree  may 
be  so  planted  as  to  take  little  or  no  land  from  other 
uses,  and  silken  garments  outwear  all  others.  "  Hence 
it  is,"  says  he,  "  that  the  most  populous  of  all  countries, 
China,  clothes  its  inhabitants  with  silk,  while  it  feeds 
them  plentifully,  and  has  besides  a  vast  quantity  of  silk, 
both  raw  and  manufactured,  to  spare  for  exportation." 

Dr.  Evans  and  some  others  in  Pennsylvania,  formed 
an  association  for  the  culture  of  silk,  and  persevered  in 
their  enterprise  till  they  were  constrained  to  relinquish 
it  by  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  for  American  inde 
pendence. 

On  the  8th  of  November,  1769,  the  assembly  of  New 
Jersey  unanimously  appointed  Franklin  agent  for  that 
colony,  making  the  third  whose  affairs  with  the  Brit 
ish  government  were  now  placed  in  his  charge.  One 
of  the  more  important  matters  thus  committed  to  him 
was  the  procurement  of  the  king's  interposition  for  the 
rightful  adjustment  of  the  boundary  line  between  East 
and  West  Jersey ;  and  another,  the  most  pressing  of  all, 
was  his  majesty's  signature  to  an  act  of  the  assembly  for 
issuing  bills  of  credit,  secured  by  funds  pledged,  by  the 
same  act,  for  their  redemption,  and  to  be  put  into  circu 
lation  by  loans  of  various  amounts  "at  an  interest  of  five 
per  cent,  per  annum,  but  not  to  be  made  a  legal  tender, 
against  which  there  was  a  prohibitory  act  of  Parliament, 


430  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

passed  two  or  three  years  before  and  applicable  to  all 
the  colonies.  The  letter  of  instructions  from  the  assem 
bly's  committee  is  brief,  simply  enumerating  the  several 
matters  placed  in  his  hands,  accompanied  by  the  remark 
that,  "  to  a  gentleman,  whose  inclination  to  serve  the 
colonies  was  believed  equal  to  his  knowledge  of  their 
true  interests,  much  need  not  be  said  to  induce  his  at 
tention  to  American  concerns." 

About  the  same  time,  also,  Franklin  received  a  letter 
from  a  Boston  committee,  transmitting  a  correspondence 
between  them  and  Governor  Bernard,  General  Gage, 
Commodore  Hood,  and  the  commissioners  of  customs, 
relating  to  the  revenue  act,  and  to  the  sentiments  and 
conduct  of  the  respective  parties  ;  the  committee  re 
questing  Franklin  to  defend  the  Bostonians  from  the 
aspersions  of  the  governor  and  the  other  crown  officers 
mentioned,  to  whose  arbitrary  proceedings  the  troubles 
in  that  quarter  were  to  be  ascribed.  Those  officers  and 
the  British  functionaries  in  other  colonies,  by  misrepre 
senting  the  conduct  of  the  colonists,,  misled  both  the 
Parliament  and  the  ministry.  Among  other  things,  they  af 
firmed  in  their  despatches,  that  the  combinations  in  Amer 
ica  against  importing  and  consuming  British  goods,  were 
all  breaking  up ;  that  the  people,  distressed  by  the  want 
of  such  goods,  could  not  refuse  them  much  longer,  and 
must  shortly  submit  to  such  terms  as  Parliament  might 
think  fit  to  impose.  To  such  accounts  was  attrib 
uted  much  of  the  obstinacy,  with  which  the  petitions 
from  America  for  the  repeal  of  the  obnoxious  revenue 
acts,  were  resisted  in  Parliament,  and  the  tenacity  with 
which  the  doctrine  of  absolute  sovereignty  over  the  col 
onies  was  maintained  in  that  body;  so  that  although  the 
statements  of  the  colonial  agents  and  the  actual  return 
of  ships  from  America  with  the  very  cargoes  they  had 
taken  out,  made  some  impression  on  the  minds  of  the 


THE    TAXING    POWER.  431 

more  liberal  members  of  Parliament,  yet  when,  in  April, 
1770,  the  subject  was  brought  forward  in  that  body,  the 
best  bill  that  could  be  carried  was  one  which  repealed 
the  duties,  except  that  on  tea,  but  still  retaining  the  pre 
amble  of  the  former  act,  which  asserted  the  unrestricted 
authority  of  Parliament  to  tax  the  colonies  in  all  cases. 

This  measure  was  adopted  on  the  avowed  ground  of 
conciliation,  and  the  duty  on  tea  was  retained  for  the 
professed  reason  that  it  was  not  a  British  production ; 
but  the  principle  of  the  bill,  nevertheless,  remained  the 
same ;  and  it  was  that  principle  against  which  the  objec 
tions  of  the  colonies  were  mainly  levelled.  The  new 
act,  therefore,  instead  of  satisfying  and  appeasing  the 
American  people,  served  only  to  alarm  and  exasperate 
them  still  more  ;  for  little  tea  being  used  at  that  period 
in  the  colonies,  the  duty  on  it  was  too  petty  an  object 
for  revenue,  and  the  new  act,  therefore,  left  the  real  in 
tention  of  Parliament  to  adhere  to  its  claim  of  power, 
more  palpable  than  ever ;  and  the  colonists,  so  far  from 
dissolving  their  leagues  against  the  consumption  of  Brit 
ish  merchandise  of  any  sort,  gave  those  leagues  fresh 
vigor  and  still  wider  efficiency. 

The  knowledge  of  this  effect  of  the  new  act  in  the 
colonies  soon  went  back  to  England ;  and  as  Franklin 
had  been  particularly  conspicuous  in  asserting  colonial 
rights,  and  as  his  letters  to  the  leading  patriots  of  Amer 
ica  had  been  denounced  as  having  produced  much  of 
the  feeling  exhibited  by  the  people  of  the  colonies,  a 
rumor  now  began  to  spread  that  his  office  of  deputy 
postmaster-general  of  the  colonies  was  to  be  taken  from 
him.  The  ministerial  press  in  England  became  more 
abusive  than  ever,  with  the  design,  as  he  thought,  of  in 
ducing  him  to  relinquish  the  office  by  his  own  act;  for, 
after  all,  ministers  felt  that  their  removal  of  him,  as  a 
punishment  for  the  zeal  and  ability  with  which  he  had 


432  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

served  his  own  country,  would  not  strengthen  them,  and 
they  would  willingly  be  saved  from  the  odium  of  such  a 
step. 

Franklin,  however,  remained  steadfast,  and  was  not 
removed  till  a  later  period.  His  language  on  the  occa 
sion  was  firm  and  explicit.  His  political  opinions,  he 
said,  had  long  been  well  known,  and  he  could  not  be 
expected  to  change  them  every  time  the  king  might  think 
fit  to  change  his  ministers  ;  that  in  his  letters  to  friends 
in  America,  as  in  all  he  had  said  and  written  in  Eng 
land,  he  had  only  done  his  duty  to  his  country ;  and  tha.t 
no  concern  for  office  could  alter  his  course,  or  his  rule  of 
doing  what  he  deemed  right,  leaving  results  to  Provi 
dence. 

One  of  his  American  correspondents  was  the  Rev. 
Samuel  Cooper,  of  Boston,  an  able  man,  and  a  stanch 
patriot,  from  whom  Franklin  received  much  valuable  in 
formation  respecting  the  progress  of  events  in  the  colo 
nies,  and  to  whom  he  communicated  his  own  sentiments 
without  reserve.  From  parts  of  this  correspondence  it 
seems  plain  that  the  more  leading  patriots  of  that  day, 
in  Boston,  who  were  generally  much  younger  men  than 
Franklin,  had  not  yet  formed  as  profound  and  thoroughly- 
digested  opinions  as  he  had,  of  the  true  political  rela 
tions  of  the  two  countries ;  and  when  they  now  per 
ceived  the  full  reach  of  his  views,  they  were  not  only 
convinced  of  his  sagacity,  but  they  also  saw,  more  clearly 
than  ever,  the  importance  of  his  position ;  and  they 
wisely  sought  to  strengthen  it,  not  only  for  the  sake  of 
their  own  local  interests,  but  also  to  aid  the  general  cause 
of  colonial  rights.  With  these  views  the  assembly  of 
Massachusetts  appointed  him  agent  for  that  colony,  on 
the  24th  of  October,  1770;  and  as  the  term  was  annual, 
he  was  reappointed  every  year  during  his  residence  in 
England. 


LOUD    HILLSBOROUGH.  433 

Soon  after  receiving  the  certificate  of  his  agency, 
Franklin  waited  on  the  secretary  for  the  colonies,  Lord 
Hillsborough,  to  present  it,  and  acquaint  him  with  the 
objects  of  his  appointment.  The  behavior  of  his  lord 
ship  at  this  interview,  which  took  place  on  the  16th  of 
January,  1771,  exhibited  a  mixture  of  petulant  anger 
and  insolence  as  unbecoming  as  it  was  strange.  When 
Franklin  first  presented  himself  he  was  received  with 
due  courtesy ;  but  when  he  began  to  state  the  objects  of 
his  new  agency,  the  moment  he  mentioned  the  name  of 
Massachusetts,  his  lordship  sneeringly  cut  him  short,  tel 
ling  him  he  was  not  agent ;  and  when  Franklin  replied 
that  he  had  his  credentials  in  his  pocket,  the  secretary 
told  him  he  was  mistaken,  for  he  had  himself  received  a 
letter  from  Governor  Hutchinson,  stating  that  he  (Hutch- 
inson)  had  refused  to  sign  the  bill  making  the  appoint 
ment.  Franklin  replied  that  no  bill  was  necessary,  as 
he  was  the  assembly's  agent,  not  the  governor's,  with 
whom  he  had  nothing  to  do  ;  and  when  his  lordship  sum 
moned  his  under-secretary  to  bring  forth  the  letter  from 
Hutchinson,  he  found  that  no  such  letter  had  come,  and 
that  the  letter  actually  received  related  to  another  mat 
ter.  This  mistake  of  the  noble  lord  did  not  tend  to 
smooth  his  temper,  and,  changing  his  ground,  he  went 
on  to  say,  that  no  colonial  assembly  had  any  right  to  ap 
point  an  agent,  by  their  own  vote,  independently  of  the 
governor,  and  that  no  colonial  agents  would  thenceforth 
be  regarded,  unless  appointed  with  the  consent  of  the 
colonial  governors  ;  that  he  should  not  yield  that  point ; 
and  that  if  he  was  not  supported  in  his  determination, 
his  office  might  be  taken  from  him  as  soon  as  it  was 
thought  fit.  To  all  these  declarations,  which  were  made 
with  great  heat,  Franklin  coolly  replied,  that,  as  the 
business  intrusted  to  these  agents  was  the  people's,  no 
consent  was  thought  necessary  on  the  part  of  a  governor, 
37 


434  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

who  was  himself  but  an  agent  of  the  king,  and  did  not 
represent  the  people.  During  this  dialogue  the  noble 
lord  worked  himself  into  such  a  passion  that  he  became 
very  insolent;  so  that  when  Franklin  took  back  his  cre 
dentials,  (which  had  not  been  even  looked  into,)  he  re 
marked,  in  a  tone  of  indignation  which  he  did  not  wish 
wholly  to  repress,  that  he  believed  it  was  "  of  no  great 
importance  whether  his  appointment  was  acknowledged 
or  not,  for,"  said  he,  "I  have  not  the  least  idea  that  an 
agent  can,  at  present,  be  of  any  use  to  any  of  the  colo 
nies ;  and  I  shall,  therefore,  give  your  lordship  no  fur 
ther  trouble"  —  and  therewith  left  the  chafing  secretary. 

It  is  easy  to  see  that  Lord  Hillsborough's  way  for  ap 
pointing  agents,  only  by  acts  of  assembly  requiring  the 
assent  of  the  king's  governors,  would  soon  render  such 
agents  worthless  to  the  colonies,  by  making  them  the  mere 
tools  of  executive  authority.  Such  a  scheme,  taken  iri 
connexion  with  that  of  rendering  the  governors  wholly 
independent  of  the  people  of  the  colonies,  by  permanent 
salaries  fixed  by  the  crown,  but  paid  out  of  the  revenues 
collected  from  the  same  people,  whose  obedience  was  to 
be  enforced  by  British  troops  quartered  upon  them, 
would  shortly  make  assemblies  superfluous,  by  placing 
all  actual  power  in  the  hands  of  the  king's  officers.  This 
policy  of  multiplying  crown  officers  is  noticed  by  Frank 
lin  in  a  letter  to  the  Massachusetts  committee  of  corre 
spondence,  dated  May  15th,  1771,  in  which  he  traces  the 
progress  of  aggression  and  resistance  —  of  official  rapa 
city  and  insolence,  and  of  popular  resentment  and  com 
bination —  finally  to  result  in  the  bloody  struggle  of  war 
—  with  a  clearness  of  vision,  a  particularity  and  accura 
cy,  more  like  history  than  prediction. 

Early  in  the  summer  of  1771,  Franklin  visited  several 
parts  of  England.  On  one  of  these  excursions  he  passed 
three  weeks  with  the  family  of  Dr.  Shipley,  bishop  of 


VISITS    IRELAND    AND    SCOTLAND.  435 

St.  Asaph,  then  residing  in  Hampshire ;  and  it  was 
while  there  that  he  wrote  the  first  portion  of  his  autobi 
ography,  extending  it  to  the  year  1731.  In  August  of 
the  same  year  he  travelled  through  Wales,  Ireland,  and 
Scotland.  During  his  stay  in  Dublin,  the  Irish  Parlia 
ment  assembled,  and  he  was  treated  with  much  distinc 
tion  by  leading  men  of  both  parties.  At  a  great  dinner 
given  by  the  lord-lieutenant,  Franklin  met  Lord  Hills- 
borough,  who,  much  to  his  surprise,  was  uncommonly 
civil ;  and  pressed  him  and  his  fellow-traveller,  Mr.  Jack 
son,  when  they  should  proceed  on  their  journey  for  the 
north  of  Ireland,  to  call  on  him.  They  did  so,  and  were 
most  hospitably  entertained  by  that  very  capricious  no 
bleman.  In  Scotland,  he  visited  Glasgow,  passed  seve 
ral  days  with  Lord  Kames,  at  his  residence  near  Stir 
ling,  and  stayed  near  three  weeks  in  Edinburgh,  as  the 
guest  of  Mr.  Hume,  gratified  with  the  attentions  he  re 
ceived  arid  with  the  general  character  of  society  in  the 
Scottish  capital. 

At  the  opening  of  1772,  Franklin  thought  seriously  of 
returning  to  America.  In  a  letter  of  January  30th,  to 
his  son,  he  speaks  of  his  strong  desire  to  be  at  home;  of 
his  age,  and  the  infirmities  which  might  reasonably  be 
anticipated  at  his  age,  being  then  nearly  sixty-seven,  and 
of  the  importance  of  arranging  his  private  affairs  before 
his  death.  He  saw,  moreover,  no  disposition  in  Parlia 
ment  to  intermeddle  any  further,  for  a  time  at  least, 
with  the  colonies;  and  that,  even  should  he  return  to 
England  again,  he  might  be  absent  for  a  year  without 
prejudice  to  colonial  interests.  The  desire  of  his  friends, 
however,  that  he  should  not  leave  while  Parliament  was 
in  session,  the  arrival  of  new  despatches  from  America, 
and  particularly  the  retirement  of  Lord  Hillsborough 
from  office,  which  shortly  after  took  place,  induced  him 
to  defer  his  return. 


436  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

Lord  Hillsborough's  resignation  of  his  post  as  secre 
tary  for  the  colonies  and  president  of  the  board  of  trade, 
is  ascribed  to  his  having  been  defeated  in  a  favorite 
plan,  in  the  privy  council,  through  the  agency  of  Frank 
lin.  Some  years  before,  a  scheme  had  been  broached 
for  establishing  a  new  colony  in  the  Ohio  country, 
and  an  application  for  a  grant  of  territory  for  the  pur 
pose  had  been  made  on  behalf  of  an  association,  at  the 
head  of  which  was  Thomas  Walpole.  To  this  grant 
Lord  Hillsborough  was  strongly  opposed,  as  it  conflicted 
with  a  project  of  his  own  to  prevent  the  extension  of  the 
colonial  settlements  beyond  the  Alleganies  and  the  sour 
ces  of  such  streams  as  flow  into  the  Atlantic.  When 
the  petition  for  the  Walpole  grant,  as  it  was  called, 
came  before  the  board  of  trade,  to  be  considered  and 
reported  to  the  privy  council,  Lord  Hillsborough  strenu 
ously  opposed  it,  and  made  a  report  to  that  effect,  which 
the  board  adopted  and  sent,  with  the  petition,  to  the 
council,  which  had  the  ultimate  disposal  of  all  such  mat 
ters.  Before  the  petition  was  acted  on  by  the  council, 
Franklin  prepared  a  reply  to  the  report,  exposing  its  fal 
lacies  and  presenting  so  full  and  masterly  an  argument 
in  favor  of  the  petition,  that  the  council  was  convinced 
by  it  and  made  the  grant.  At  this  decision  Lord  Hills- 
borough  took  umbrage  and  resigned  his  office. 

The  policy  of  encouraging  western  settlements  had 
been  urged  by  Franklin  many  years  before,  particularly 
in  his  celebrated  Canada  pamphlet,  which  embraced 
many  of  the  leading  considerations  presented  in  favor  of 
this  grant.  But  though  this  plan  of  colonizing  beyond 
the  Alleganies  was  now  sanctioned  by  his  majesty's 
council,  yet  the  execution  of  it  was  so  delayed,  that  the 
revolution  put  an  end  to  the  whole  enterprise. 

During  the  same  year,  the  Royal  Society,  at  the  sug 
gestion  of  the  ministry,  appointed  a  committee  to  visit 


PURFLEET.  437 

the  extensive  public  magazines  for  storing  powder,  at 
Purfleet,  in  the  vicinity  of  London,  with  the  view  of 
recommending  the  best  mode  of  protecting  them  from 
lightning.  The  committee  consisted  of  five  of  the  most 
eminent  electricians  of  the  society,  of  whom  Franklin 
was  one;  and  he  drew  the  report,  which  recommended  the 
use  of  pointed  conductors.  To  satisfy  the  committee  of 
the  correctness  of  the  principles  on  which  he  based  his 
recommendation,  he  performed  a  set  of  experiments  ; 
and  the  result  was,  that  all  his  associates  united  with 
him  in  signing  the  report,  except  Mr.  Wilson,  who  was 
in  favor  of  rods  ending  with  knobs.  The  principles 
applicable  to  both  forms  having  been  already  stated,  it 
needs  only  be  said  here  that  pointed  rods  were  preferred 
for  the  very  reason  urged  against  them  ;  that  is,  inas 
much  as  they  attract  the  electric  element  further  than 
knobs,  they  act  upon  it  at  a  greater  distance,  drawing  it 
off  gradually,  without  overcharging  the  rod,  which  thus 
conducts  it  safely  to  the  ground ;  whereas  blunt  rods,  by 
permitting  the  nearer  approach  of  the  element  before 
acting  on  it,  are  liable  to  receive  it  in  too  great  quanti 
ties  for  the  safe  transmission  of  it  to  the  earth. 

Though  Franklin  was  unable  to  advance  the  political 
business  with  which  he  had  been  charged,  yet  his  posi 
tion,  in  other  respects,  was  very  agreeable.  His  great 
abilities  and  illustrious  character  brought  around  him 
the  distinguished  men  of  the  times  ;  and  he  moved  in  the 
most  enlightened  and  respectable  circle  of  society.  Men 
of  learning  from  the  continent  uniformly  brought  intro 
ductions  to  him  :  foreign  diplomatists  cultivated  his  ac 
quaintance  ;  and  in  August,  1772,  the  Royal  Academy 
at  Paris  elected  him  one  of  its  foreign  associates  —  an 
honor  the  more  marked,  from  the  fact  that  the  whole 
number  of  its  associates  of  that  class  was  restricted  to 
eight. 

37* 


438  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

With  the  commencement  of  1773,  however,  colonial 
affairs  attracted  renewed  attention.  The  British  gov 
ernment  had  recently  adopted  the  policy  of  fixing  the 
salaries  of  the  colonial  governors,  judges,  and  other  offi 
cers,  paying  them  from  the  revenue  supplied  by  those 
very  taxes  which  were  levied  without  the  consent  of 
the  colonies.  This  new  step  gave  great  dissatisfaction 
to  the  Americans.  It  was  removing  their  only  hold  on 
the  good-will  or  the  personal  interest  of  the  crown  offi 
cers,  who,  while  they  received  their  salaries  from  the 
colonies,  were  supplied  with  a  powerful  motive  to  exer 
cise  their  functions  with  a  more  discreet  and  just  regard 
to  the  rights  of  the  people  within  their  jurisdiction.  Such 
was  the  excitement  produced  by  this  new  measure,  par 
ticularly  in  Massachusetts,  that  the  assembly  of  that  col 
ony,  and  the  people  of  all  the  towns  in  town-meeting, 
passed  resolutions  and  adopted  petitions,  in  which  they 
remonstrated  against  it  in  the  strongest  and  boldest  lan 
guage.  These  proceedings  were  sent  to  Franklin,  as 
agent  of  the  colony,  with  instructions  to  lay  them  before 
the  privy  council. 

Lord  Dartmouth,  who  had  succeeded  the  earl  of  Hills- 
borough  as  colonial  secretary,  being  the  minister  with 
whom  colonial  business  was  transacted,  Franklin  not  only 
placed  the  proceedings  mentioned  in  his  hands,  but  he 
had  them  printed  in  a  pamphlet,  for  general  circulation, 
with  a  preface  from  his  own  pen,  explaining,  in  a  brief 
historical  sketch,  to  use  his  own  words,  "  the  grounds  of 
a  dissension,  that  possibly  may,  sooner  or  later,  have 
consequences  interesting  to  all." 

In  the  course  of  1773,  Franklin  published  two  re 
markable  pieces,  one  entitled,  "  Rules  for  reducing  a 
great  Empire  to  a  small  one;"  and  the  other,  "An 
Edict  by  the  King  of  Prussia  ;"  both  relating  to  the 
controversy  between  Great  Britain  and  America,  and 


BRITISH    CLAIMS    BURLESQUED.  439 

both  written  in  a  vein  of  irony  not  surpassed  in  pungent 
sarcasm  since  the  days  of  Swift,  yet  presenting,  at  the 
same  time,  the  argument  against  the  policy  pursued  by 
the  British  government,  with  equal  force  and  adroitness. 
In  the  former  piece  he  digests  the  obnoxious  acts  of  the 
royal  government,  into  the  form  of  rules  to  be  observed 
for  the  purpose  mentioned,  and  shows  how  certain  they 
are  to  accomplish  that  purpose,  by  stating,  in  the  form 
of  necessary  consequences,  what  had  actually  taken  place 
in  the  colonies,  their  existing  condition,  the  character 
and  tendency  of  opinion  among  their  people,  and  the  in 
evitable  result.  In  the  edict,  he  supposes  the  king  of 
Prussia  to  be  the  head  of  the  German  or  Saxon  race, 
and  that  England,  having  been  settled  by  portions  of 
that  race,  who  migrated  thither  under  Hengist,  Horsa, 
and  other  leaders,  and  the  settlements  thus  made  having 
long  flourished  under  the  protection  of  Prussia,  for 
which  protection  and  the  great  expense  and  trouble  at 
tending  it,  those  English  colonies  had  not  yet  made  to 
their  gracious  sovereign  any  adequate  and  just  indemnifi 
cation,  his  majesty,  therefore,  imposes  export  and  import 
duties  on  his  British  subjects,  for  the  more  easy  collec 
tion  of  which,  all  British  vessels  bound  to  or  from  any 
part  of  the  globe,  are  required  to  touch  and  unlade  at 
Koningsberg  ;  all  manufactures,  also,  are  forbidden 
among  his  British  subjects,  even  of  their  own  natural 
productions,  which  must  be  taken  to  Prussia  to  be  fab 
ricated ;  and,  after  commanding  that  all  Prussian  con 
victs  shall  be  taken  to  his  British  islands  for  the  better 
peopling  thereof,  his  majesty  assumes  that  the  regula 
tions  of  his  edict  will  be  deemed  "just  and  reasonable" 
by  his  "  much-favored  colonists  in  England,"  inasmuch 
as  they  had  all  been  copied  from  various  acts  of  their 
own  Parliament  (which  are  distinctly  cited),  and  from 
instructions  issued  by  their  own  princes,  for  the  "  good 


440  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

government  of  their  own  colonies  in  Ireland  and  Amer 
ica;"  and  the  edict  concludes  with  making  it  high  trea 
son  to  resist  any  of  its  provisions,  for  which  the  traitors 
are  to  be  carried  in  fetters  to  Prussia,  to  be  tried  and 
executed. 

These  pieces  attracted  much  attention.  Franklin 
was  not  suspected  of  being  the  author  of  them,  except 
by  one  or  two  intimate  friends  ;  and  he  heard  them  spo 
ken  of  occasionally,  particularly  the  Edict,  as  the  se 
verest  piece  of  satire  that  had  appeared  for  a  long 
time. 

During  the  summer  of  1773,  Franklin  made  an  excur 
sion  to  the  northern  counties  of  England,  and  while  at 
Keswick,  in  Cumberland,  on  visiting  the  shore  of  the 
beautiful  lake  called  Derwent  Water,  for  the  gratifica 
tion  of  the  gentleman  with  him,  he  smoothed  its  ruffled 
surface  with  oil.  The  experiment  was  easily  performed, 
for  he  usually  carried  a  small  quantity  of  oil  in  the  head 
of  a  bamboo  cane,  and  a  few  drops  answered  the  pur 
pose.  But  political  affairs  chiefly  engrossed  his  time 
and  thoughts ;  and  they  were  fast  assuming  a  more  seri 
ous  aspect.  The  resolutions  and  remonstrances  of  the 
assembly  and  the  towns  of  Massachusetts  had  given  fresh 
energy  to  the  feeling  in  America.  In  March,  1773,  the 
Virginia  house  of  burgesses  appointed  a  committee  of 
correspondence,  inviting  the  other  colonies  to  do  the 
same ;  and  preparation  for  securing  unity  of  action  as 
well  as  sentiment  was  everywhere  going  forward.  Be 
fore  the  prorogation  of  Parliament  in  the  summer  of  the 
same  year,  the  king's  answer  to  the  various  petitions 
from  the  colonies,  and  the  haughty  tone  of  that  answer, 
served  only  to  give  greater  firmness  to  the  attitude  they 
had  taken,  for  it  showed  that  his  majesty  had  at  length 
openly  united  with  Parliament  in  asserting  their  right 
to  bind  the  colonies  by  their  laws,  "  in  all  cases  whatso- 


FIRMNESS    OF    THE    COLONIES.  341 

ever."  In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Gushing,  dated  July  7th,  1773, 
Franklin,  after  stating  the  substance  of  the  answer,  pro 
ceeds  to  consider  the  position  in  which  it  placed  the 
colonies.  He  urges,  with  great  force,  the  necessity  of 
united  action  on  their  part,  and  a  common  assertion  of 
their  rights  ;  and  without  assuming  to  direct  the  precise 
form  in  which  they  should  combine  for  this  purpose,  ob 
serves,  that  it  might  be  wisest  for  the  colonies,  "  in  a 
general  congress  now  in  peace  to  be  assembled,  or  by 
means  of  the  correspondence  lately  proposed,  after  a 
full  and  solemn  declaration  of  their  rights,  to  engage 
firmly  with  each  other  that  they  will  never  grant  aid  to 
the  crown  in  any  general  war,  till  those  rights  are  rec 
ognised  by  the  king  and  Parliament,"  and  send  their 
declaration  to  the  king.  Such  a  step,  he  thought,  would 
bring  the  matter  to  a  crisis  ;  and  if  force  should  be  used 
to  compel  obedience,  it  would  only  strengthen  our  union, 
and  procure  the  good  opinion  of  the  world. 

Franklin,  however,  like  the  wiser  and  more  consider 
ate  of  his  compatriots,  while  he  would  have  the  rights  of 
the  colonies  boldly  asserted  arid  firmly  maintained,  rec 
ommended  moderate  and  prudent  action.  He,  as  well 
as  they,  deemed  the  colonies  not  yet  ripe  for  an  open 
rupture;  that  a  premature  struggle  would  cripple  them, 
and  delay,  in  fact,  the  full  establishment  of  their  free 
dom  ;  and  that  if  the  British  government  would  concede 
their  rights  and  treat  them  justly,  the  connexion  be 
tween  the  two  countries  could  be  continued,  at  least 
for  some  years  longer,  to  the  benefit  of  both.  Such 
counsels  were,  in  truth,  followed  by  the  colonies;  but 
no  arguments,  no  considerations  of  sound  policy,  no  re 
spect  for  charters,  no  regard  for  the  great  principles  of 
British  constitution  itself,  as  applicable  to  British  sub 
jects  wherever  resident,  controlled  the  action  of  the 
British  government ;  and  events  took  place  on  both  sides 


442  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

of  the  Atlantic,  in  1774,  which  gave  a  still  sharper  edge 
to  existing  animosities. 

In  December,  1772,  a  packet  of  letters  was  placed  in 
Franklin's  hands,  by  an  Englishman  of  high  standing, 
whose  name  has  not  been  made  known,  but  who  gave  him 
express  permission  to  send  them  to  America.  These  let 
ters  have  been  usually  referred  to  as  the  HutcMnson  Let 
ters,  and  had  been  written  by  Hutchinson,  while  he  was 
chief-justice  of  Massachusetts,  by  Lieutenant-Governor 
Oliver,  and  some  other  tories  of  Boston,  to  Thomas 
Whately,  secretary  to  George  Grenville,  the  author  of 
the  stamp-act,  while  he  was  at  the  head  of  the  British 
cabinet.  As  the  letters  were  written  at  Boston,  Frank 
lin,  being  then  agent  for  Massachusetts,  sent  them,  in 
December,  1772,  to  Mr.  Gushing,  speaker  of  the  Mas 
sachusetts  Assembly,  stating,  in  the  letter  with  which  he 
transmitted  them,  that  he  was  riot  at  liberty  to  tell  from 
whom  he  received  them,  and  that  they  were  neither  to 
be  printed  nor  copied,  but  might  be  shown  to  some  of 
the  leading  patriots  for  their  satisfaction,  and  that  those 
very  letters  had  mainly  instigated  those  acts  of  the  Brit 
ish  government  which  the  colonies  regarded  as  their 
principal  grievances. 

The  letters  reached  their  destination,  and  after  being 
exhibited  to  various  individuals,  were  laid  before  the  As 
sembly  of  Massachusetts,  and  ultimately  printed,  by 
order  of  that  body,  as  being  of  great  public  importance, 
and  as  having  been  written,  as  their  contents  proved,  to 
effect  public  objects.  After  full  consideration  of  the  let 
ters,  the  Assembly  passed  some  very  pointed  resolutions 
in  relation  to  the  writers  and  the  public  evils  produced 
by  their  instrumentality,  and  adopted  a  petition  to  the 
king,  asking  that  the  offices  of  Hutchinson  and  Oliver, 
then  governor  and  lieutenant-governor  of  the  colony, 
might  be  taken  from  them. 


THE  HUTCHINSON  LETTERS.  443 

When  this  affair  became  public  in  London,  it  led  to  a 
quarrel  between  Mr.  William  Whately,  brother  and  ex 
ecutor  of  Thomas,  to  whom  it  was  supposed  the  letters 
had  been  addressed,  and  a  Mr.  John  Temple,  who  had 
been  an  intimate  friend  of  Thomas  Whately  ;  and  as  the 
quarrel  threatened  a  fatal  issue,  Franklin,  to  prevent  it, 
and  to  relieve  both  those  gentlemen  from  the  suspicion 
of  a  breach  of  trust  to  which  their  relations  to  the 
deceased  Thomas  Whately  had  exposed  them,  sent  a 
card,  in  his  own  name,  to  the  Public  Advertiser,  acquit 
ting  them  both  of  all  agency  in  the  matter,  and  avowing 
himself  as  the  person  who  had  obtained  and  transmitted 
the  letters  to  America,  though  he  still  remained  faithful 
to  the  secret  of  the  individual  from  whom  he  had  re 
ceived  them. 

This  magnanimous  conduct  of  Franklin,  however,  served 
only  to  bring  upon  him  the  whole  tribe  of  ministerial 
writers  in  fiercer  assault  than  ever ;  and  it  was  arranged 
that,  when  the  Massachusetts  petition  for  the  removal  of 
Hutchinson  and  Oliver  should  come  before  the  commit 
tee  of  the  lords  of  the  privy  council,  those  two  function 
aries  should  be  heard  by  counsel  against  the  petition. 
It  was  no  part  of  the  reason  for  this  procedure  that 
Hutchinson  and  Oliver  were  in  any  danger  of  removal ; 
for,  composed  as  the  council  was,  they  would  have  been 
safe  against  the  petitions  of  united  America.  But  the 
real  object  was  to  give  an  opportunity  for  a  direct  pub 
lic  attack  on  Franklin,  in  the  hope  of  bringing  odium 
upon  him  for  his  connection  with  the  letters,  and  thus 
undermining  his  political  influence  as  a  champion  of  co 
lonial  rights.  The  person  employed  for  this  dishonora 
ble  purpose  was  the  Solicitor-general  Wedderburn,  (af 
terward  Lord  Loughborough,)  a  man  of  malignant  tem 
per,  and  in  high  repute  for  his  powers  of  sarcasm  and 
bitter  invective.  And  these  qualities,  to  the  disgrace,  not 


444  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

of  Franklin,  but  of  their  possessor  and  those  who  so 
meanly  permitted  the  employment  of  them,  were  allowed 
the  utmost  license. 

Franklin,  though  deeply  indignant  at  the  coarse  in 
sults  heaped  upon  him  and  the  people  he  represented, 
bore  himself  with  a  steady  and  composed  dignity  wor 
thy  of  his  great  character,  and  the  malice  of  his  assail 
ants  recoiled  upon  themselves  in  the  general  disgust  ex 
cited  by  their  conduct.  The  committee,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  reported  against  the  petition,  denouncing  it  as 
groundless,  scandalous,  and  seditious,  and  affirming  the 
integrity  and  honor  of  the  authors  of  the  letters,  from 
whom  the  people  they  belied  had  suffered  so  much  in 
jury.  The  report  was  promptly  adopted  by  the  privy 
council ;  and  the  next  day  Franklin  was  removed  from 
the  colonial  postoffice  department,  the  revenue  of  which 
he  had  raised  from  nothing  to  nearly  three  thousand 
pounds  yearly,  and  which,  not  long  after  his  removal,  fell 
to  nothing  again.  Both  these  proceedings  are  good  spe 
cimens  of  the  fatuity  of  the  British  policy  toward  the 
colonies  ;  and,  to  use  the  words  of  a  patriot  who  wit 
nessed  what  has  just  been  related,  "  who  can  wonder  at 
the  indignation  of  the  American  people,  or  that  the  bat 
tle  of  Bunker  hill  was  fought  in  less  than  eighteen  months 
afterward  1" 

The  occurrences  just  related  took  place  in  January, 
1774  :  and  other  events  which  soon  succeeded  tended  to 
bring  the  dispute  between  the  two  countries  rapidly  to 
a  crisis.  Franklin's  self-respect,  after  the  ignominious 
treatment  he  had  received,  did  not  permit  him  to  hold 
any  further  intercourse  with  the  ministry ;  arid  some  of 
his  friends  believed  his  stay  in  England  involved  so  much 
hazard  to  his  personal  liberty,  that  they  advised  him  to 
secure  his  papers  and  withdraw.  But  others,  friends  of 
the  colonies,  urged  him  to  await  the  action  of  the  Aracr- 


PETITION    FROM    CONGRESS LORD    CHATHAM.        445 

ican   congress,  which  assembled  that  year,  for  the  first 
time,  in  Philadelphia;   and  in  the   hope   that  he  mio-ht 
still  be  of  some  service,  though  acting  only  in  a  private 
capacity,  he  consented  to  remain.     In  December,  1774, 
the  petition  from  Congress  was  sent  to  him,  with  a  let 
ter  in  which  the  colonial  agents  in  London  were  request 
ed  to  unite  in  presenting  it.      Franklin,  Bollan,  and  Lee, 
however,  were  the  only  three  who  acted.      They  took  it 
to   Lord  Dartmouth,  the  colonial  secretary,  and  subse 
quently,  when,  with  other  papers,  it  had  been  laid  on 
the  table   of  the  house  of  commons,  they  asked  to  be 
heard  in  support  of  it,  at  the  bar  of  the  house.     This  was 
denied,  however,  and  the  petition  was  subsequently  re 
jected  by   a   great  majority.     A    little    before    leaving 
England,   an   effort  was    made  by  several  of  the  more 
zealous  friends  of  the  colonies,  to  devise  some  means  of 
conciliation  between  the  British  government  and  the  col 
onies.     To  this  end  various   interviews   were   held  be 
tween  Franklin,  Lord  Howe,  the  earl  of  Chatham,  and 
other  eminent  whigs ;   and  Franklin,  at  the  request  of 
the  principal  persons  concerned,  presented  his  views,  at 
much  length  and  in  various  forms,  of  the  principles  on 
which  harmony  might  be  restored  and  the  connexion  be 
tween  the  two  countries  permanently  settled  to  the  ad 
vantage  of  both.      This  unofficial  and  private  negotiation 
continued  for  some  weeks ;  but  though  the   parties  en 
gaged  were   very   sincere,  and  though   Lord  Chatham, 
after  several  conferences  with  Franklin,  prepared  a  plan 
of  conciliation  which  he  moved  in  the  house  of  lords  on 
the  31st  of  January,  1775,  and  supported  with  a  power 
ful  speech,  yet  the  hostility  of  the  ministers  to  the  colo 
nies  was  so  strong  that  "  all  availed,"  says  Franklin,  "no 
more  than  the  whistling  of  the  winds,  and  the  plan  was 
rejected."    During  the  debate,  however,  Franklin  received 
ample  compensation  for  the  contumely  of  Wedderburn. 
38 


440  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

Lord  Sandwich,  one  of  the  ministry,  opposed  even  the 
reception  of  the  plan  for  consideration  ;  and  having,  in 
the  course  of  an  intemperate  and  most  unstatesmanlike 
speech  against  it,  made  some  bitter  allusions  to  Frank 
lin,  who  was  present,  Lord  Chatham,  in  his  reply,  took 
occasion  to  say,  that,  were  the  settlement  of  this  great 
question  devolved  on  him  as  the  first  minister  of  the  gov 
ernment,  he  should  not  hesitate  to  seek  the  aid  of  "  a 
person  so  perfectly  acquainted  with  American  affairs  as 
the  gentleman  so  injuriously  reflected  on  ;  one  whom  all 
Europe  held  in  high  estimation  for  his  knowledge  and 
wisdom,  and  ranked  with  our  Boyles  and  Newtons  ;  who 
was  an  honor,  not  to  the  English  nation  only,  but  to  hu 
man  nature." 

Other  whig  noblemen  besides  the  Lords  Chatham  and 
Howe,  and  some  even  of  the  tory  lords  not  of  the  cabi 
net,  regarded  Franklin  with  great  respect  for  his  per 
sonal  character  not  less  than  for  his  knowledge;  while, 
among  the  men  most  eminent  at  that  day  for  learning  and 
philanthropy,  his  admirers  were  so  numerous  as  abun 
dantly  to  compensate  him  by  their  friendship  and  soci 
ety  for  the  enmity  of  the  enemies  of  his  country  ;  and 
with  this  treasure  of  esteem  and  honor  gathered  from 
every  nation  in  Europe,  he  left  London  on  the  21st  of 
March,  1775,  after  a  continued  residence  there  of  a  little 
more  than  ten  years,  for  Philadelphia. 


DEATH    OF    HIS    WIFE.  447 


CHAPTER   XXVI. 

DEATH     OF    HIS    WIFE CONGRESS    AND     PUBLIC    BUSINESS 

MISSION     TO     FRANCE RESIDENCE     AT     PARIS RE 
TURN     TO     AMERICA CONSTITUTION     OF     THE      UNITED 

STATES DEATH    AND    CHARACTER    OF    FRANKLIN. 

A  FEW  weeks  before  sailing  from  England,  the  sor 
rowful  news  reached  Franklin  of  the  death  of  his  wife. 
For  several  months  she  had  felt  her  health  sinking,  and 
on  the  14th  of  December,  1774,  she  was  seized  with 
paralysis,  which  she  survived  only  five  days.  This  event 
filled  Franklin  with  poignant  grief.  Her  good  sense 
and  native  kindness  of  heart,  her  discreet  management, 
not  only  of  household  affairs,  but  of  his  business  in  his 
absence,  with  her  placid  and  even  temper,  and  her  ra 
tional  and  sober  yet  hopeful  views  of  life,  had  greatly 
endeared  her  to  him,  and  made  his  home  peculiarly  at 
tractive.  In  many  respects  their  native  qualities  and 
traits  of  character  were  much  alike,  and  with  the  solid 
materials  for  domestic  felicity  which  both  were  able  and 
ever  ready  to  contribute,  their  forty-four  years  of  wed 
lock  passed  in  mutual  affection  and  unbroken  harmony, 
and  the  survivor  deeply  mourned  his  bereavement. 

Franklin  reached  home  on  the  evening  of  May  5th, 
1775 ;  and  the  very  next  day  the  Assembly  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  then  in  session,  appointed  him  a  delegate  to  the 
second  Continental  Congress,  which  was  to  convene  in 
Philadelphia  four  days  after.  The  people  of  America 


448  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

had  everywhere  become  exasperated  beyond  all  further 
forbearance.  The  blood  of  their  countrymen  had  been 
wantonly  shed  by  British  troops,  at  Lexington  and  Con 
cord,  in  April,  and  the  call  to  arms  was  now  ringing 
through  the  land. 

When  Congress  met,  a  few  timid  men  still  hesitated  at 
the  idea  of  war  with  so  powerful  a  foe  as  Great  Britain, 
but  the  great  majority  were  ready  and  eager  for  the  con 
flict;  and  though  they  consented  that  one  more  appeal 
should  be  made  to  the  justice  of  the  British  government, 
by  petitioning  the  king,  yet  they  did  so  merely  to  con 
ciliate  their  hesitating  brethren,  while,  at  the  same  time, 
they  promptly  voted  to  prepare  for  defence,  and  pressed 
the  preparation  with  vigor. 

Never  before  had  Franklin  been  so  loaded  with  pub 
lic  business.  The  Pennsylvania  Assembly  made  him 
chairman  of  the  committee  of  safety  for  that  province; 
and  Congress  placed  him  at  the  head  of  its  secret  com 
mittee  authorized  to  procure  and  distribute  arms  and 
other  munitions  of  war.  A  new  postoffice  establish 
ment,  also,  was  necessary,  and  the  arduous  task  of  ar 
ranging  it  was  committed  to  Franklin  alone,  with  exclu 
sive  authority  over  the  whole  subject.  The  department 
of  Indian  affairs  for  the  middle  colonies  was  placed  un 
der  his  superintendence,  and  he  served  on  the  commit 
tees  on  commerce,  on  the  organization  of  a  war  depart 
ment,  on  the  terms  of  treaties  to  be  offered  to  foreign 
nations,  and  various  others. 

Several  of  the  posts  thus  assigned  to  him  involved  an 
active  and  extensive  correspondence,  not  only  within  the 
colonies,  but  with  many  persons  in  foreign  countries, 
requiring  great  caution  and  an  accurate  knowledge  of 
the  channels  of  communication  in  Europe,  to  preserve 
the  objects  of  Congress  from  becoming  known  to  a  vigi 
lant  enemy  almost  everywhere  present.  In  the  midst  of 


HIS    VARIOUS    LABORS.  449 

all  this  labor,  moreover,  feeling  as  all  other  reflecting 
men  did,  the  vital  importance  of  some  general  political 
organization  less  dependent  than  Congress  then  was,  on 
the  merely  spontaneous  action  of  separate  colonial  As 
semblies,  and  endowed  with  self-sustaining  power  suffi 
cient  to  abide  the  vicissitudes  of  the  coming  struggle, 
Franklin  prepared  a  plan  of  confederacy,  which,  on  the 
21st  of  July,  1775,  on  his  own  motion, .he  laid  before 
Congress.  This  plan  vested  the  general  powers  of  the 
proposed  confederacy  in  a  single  legislative  body  or 
congress  ;  and  the  executive  and  administrative  func 
tions  in  a  council,  to  consist  of  one  member  from  each 
colony,  appointed  by  the  Congress.  Though  the  plan 
was  not  adopted,  it  brought  the  subject  up,  and  it  may  be 
regarded  as  the  germ  of  the  confederation,  under  which 
the  thirteen  states  subsequently  organized  themselves. 

In  October  of  the  same  year  Congress  sent  Franklin, 
with  two  other  members,  Thomas  Lynch  and  Benjamin 
Harrison,  to  consult  and  arrange  with  Washington,  then 
at  the  camp  in  Cambridge,  a  plan  for  the  maintenance 
of  an  army ;  and  on  his  return  he  found  himself  again  a 
member  of  the  Pennsylvania  Assembly,  having  been 
elected  in  Philadelphia  in  his  absence.  The  importance 
of  maintaining  a  political  correspondence  with  the  friends 
of  America  in  Europe,  particularly  with  a  view  to  such 
alliances  as  might  become  necessary,  was  strongly  felt  in 
Congress,  and  near  the  end  of  November  that  body  or 
ganized  a  committee  of  secret  correspondence.  For 
this,  Franklin's  high  standing  and  wide  acquaintance  in 
Europe  peculiarly  fitted  him  ;  and  being  placed  on  it,  he 
opened  the  intended  correspondence  in  a  letter  of  the 
9th  of  December,  1775,  to  Charles  W.  F.  Dumas,  a  very 
learned  man,  particularly  versed  in  the  law  of  nations, 
and  a  Swiss  by  birth,  with  whom  Franklin  had  become 
intimately  acquainted  in  Holland. 
38* 


450  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

Mr.  Dumas,  in  a  recent  letter  to  Franklin,  had  ex 
pressed  the  warmest  approval  of  the  cause  of  the  colo 
nies,  and  assured  him  of  the  general  good  wishes  of 
Europe  ;  and  as  he  had  long  resided  at  the  Hague,  in 
the  midst  of  distinguished  diplomatists  from  all  quarters 
of  the  continent,  Franklin  gave  him  a  sketch  of  the  ex 
isting  condition  of  America,  its  strength,  resources,  and 
prospects;  suggested  that  Congress  might  find  it  neces 
sary  to  seek  assistance,  or  alliances,  and  requested  him 
to  ascertain,  if  he  could,  what  would  be  the  disposition 
of  the  principal  European  cabinets  in  regard  to  such  ap 
plications,  should  they  be  made  ;  urging,  at  the  same 
time,  the  importance  of  circumspection,  arid  pointing  out 
a  safe  channel  of  communication.  Mr.  Dumas  under 
took  the  agency  proposed,  and  rendered  valuable  service 
throughout  the  struggle  for  American  independence. 

In  the  spring  of  1776,  Congress  sent  Franklin,  Charles 
Carroll,  and  Samuel  Chase,  on  a  mission  to  Canada, 
with  power  to  direct  the  operations  of  the  American  for 
ces  in  that  province,  and  with  the  hope  of  inducing  the 
Canadians  to  unite  in  the  existing  struggle  for  colonial 
rights.  But  the  mission  was  fruitless  ;  and  when  Frank 
lin  got  back  to  Philadelphia,  early  in  June,  he  found 
Congress  occupied  with  a  far  more  momentous  subject. 
This  was  the  declaration  of  independence.  On  this 
point  public  opinion  was  in  advance  of  the  action  of 
Congress.  This  was  right.  It  was  wise  and  just  in  that 
body  to  wait  for  the  clear  expression  of  public  senti 
ment,  on  so  grave  a  question.  But  that  sentiment  had 
now  become  fixed,  and  Congress  acted  on  it  promptly. 
The  committee,  consisting  of  Jefferson,  Adams,  Frank 
lin,  Sherman,  and  Livingston,  appointed  in  June  to 
draw  a  declaration,  reported  on  the  1st  of  July ;  and 
after  a  debate  of  three  days,  the  report,  as  drawn  by 
Jefferson,  with  a  few  clauses  modified  at  the  suggestion 


I 


,*      -    '/' 


INTERVIEW    WITH    LORD    HOWE.  451 

of  Franklin  and  Adams,  was,  on  the  4th,  by  an  almost 
unanimous  vote,  adopted,  declaring  the  colonies  to  be 
free  and  independent  states.  ^ 

In  the  preceding  May,  Congress  had  proposed  to  the 
several  colonies  to  remodel  their  own  constitutions,  to 
enable  them  to  meet  the  new  exigencies  of  the  country. 
Accordingly,  in  July  a  convention,  to  frame  a  constitu 
tion  for  Pennsylvania,  met  in  Philadelphia,  and  chose 
Franklin  president.  Though  his  labors  were  divided 
Jbetweeo  his  various  posts,  yet  his  influence  in  the  con 
vention  was  weighty,  and  its  ultimate  decision  in  favor  of 
a  legislature  consisting  of  one  house  only,  is  ascribed  to 
him.  His  objections  to  a  legislature  with  two  branches 
were  derived  partly  from  wha_t  he  had  seen  of  colonial 
Assemblies  and  legislative  councils  under  royal  gover 
nors,  and  partly  from  the  history  of  the  English  Parlia 
ment.  He  did  not,  perhaps,  sufficiently  appreciate  the 
difference  between  a  legislature  having  one  of  its 
branches  hereditary  and  constituting  a  distinct  order  in 
the  state,  and  one  wholly  elective,  in  a  commonwealth 
exempted  from  all  the  influences,  direct  and  indirect,  of 
the  hereditary  element,  as  well  as  from  the  prerogatives 
and  patronage  of  a  king.  At  any  rate,  no  other  instance 
of  a  legislature  consisting  of  a  single  house  has  occurred 
in  this  country ;  and  when  Pennsylvania,  at  a  subse 
quent  period,  reconstructed  her  constitution,  she  followed 
the  general  example. 

Shortly  after,  the  declaration  of  independence  by  Con 
gress,  Lord  Howe  arrived  in  the  bay  of  New  York  with 
a  British  fleet;  and  being  commissioned,  together  with 
his  brother,  General  Howe,  to  settle  the  dispute  be 
tween  the  two  countries,  if  the  colonies  would  return  to 
their  allegiance,  he  published  a  manifesto  to  that  effect, 
and  wrote  to  Franklin,  assuring  him  of  his  earnest  de 
sire  to  see  harmony  restored.  A  short  correspondence 


452  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

ensued  b'etween  them  ;  and  though  Howe  was  not  per 
mitted  to  recognise  the  authority  of  Congress,  yet,  as  he 
communicated  his  wish  to  confer  with  some  of  its  mem 
bers  on  the  terms  upon  which  existing  difficulties  might 
be  adjusted,  that  body,  early  in  September,  deputed 
Franklin,  John  Adams,  and  Edward  Rutledge,  to  meet 
him,  to  learn  the  nature  and  extent  of  his  authority,  and 
to  receive  such  propositions  as  he  might  think  fit  to 
offer.  The  meeting  took  place  on  Staten  Island,  and 
though  Lord  Howe  said  much  of  the  disposition  of  the 
king  and  his  ministers  to  listen  to  the  complaints  of  the 
colonies  and  redress  their  grievances,  if  they  would  re 
turn  to  their  obedience,  yet  his  propositions  were  unac 
companied  by  any  distinct  pledges  of  his  majesty's  good 
faith,  and  too  vague  to  be  relied  on. 

Although  the  interview,  in  reference  to  its  direct  ob 
ject  amounted  to  nothing,  yet,  indirectly,  the  result  of 
it  was  doubtless  important:  for  the  publication  of  the 
whole  procedure,  which  was  forthwith  ordered  by  Con 
gress,  showed  the  American  people  how  idle  it  was  to 
expect  anything  from  the  voluntary  justice  of  the  British 
government ;  and  that  they  must  look,  for  the  rescue  of 
their  liberties,  only  to  their  own  union,  courage,  and  re 
sources,  without  which  they  could  neither  protect  them 
selves  in  the  outset,  nor  receive  future  aid  from  foreign 
alliances. 

To  the  means  of  obtaining  such  alliances  Congress 
now  turned  its  attention.  The  commerce  of  the  coun 
try  was  valuable,  and  with  the  offer  of  that  on  liheral 
terms,  as  an  equivalent  for  the  assistance  needed,  a  mis 
sion  to  France  was  determined  on.  The  commissioners 
"first  appointed  for  this  purpose,  on  the  2Gth  of  Septem 
ber,  were  Franklin,  Silas  Dean,  and  Thomas  Jefferson. 
The  last,  however,  declined,  and  Arthur  Lee,  of  Vir 
ginia,  was  put  in  his  place.  Mr.  Lee  and  Mr.  Dean  were 


MISSION    TO    FRANCE.  453 

both  in  Europe,  the  former  having  been  employed  sev 
eral  years  in  England  as  a  colonial  agent,  and  the  latter 
having  been  sent  out,  in  the  preceding  March,  by  the 
committee  of  secret  correspondence,  with  a  view  to  dip 
lomatic  as  well  as  commercial  objects  ;  and  Franklin, 
after  a  boisterous  voyage  in  the  United  States  sloop-of- 
war  Reprisal,  Captain  Wickes,  and  after  escaping  from 
the  guns  of  several  Britsh  cruisers,  met  them  in  Paris  in 
the  latter  part  of  December,  1776. 

With  a  fame  unequalled  in  brilliancy  by  that  of  any 
other  man  of  those  times,  not  only  as  a  philosopher  and 
sage,  but  as  a  profound  political  thinker  and  an  un 
daunted  asserter  of  the  rights  and  liberties  of  his  coun 
try,  Franklin's  name  was  now  familiarly  known  and 
revered  throughout  all  Europe.  Portraits  of  him  were 
everywhere  multiplied,  of  all  forms  and  dimensions,  from 
the  size  of  life  down  to  the  smallest  miniatures  for  snuff 
boxes  and  rings,  and  all,  young  and  old,  of  all  ranks  and 
of  both  sexes,  felt  it  a  privilege  to  obtain  admission  to 
his  presence.  Such  were  the  accompaniments  of  Frank 
lin's  arrival  at  the  capital  of  France. 

Of  the  effect  produced  by  Franklin's  character,  repu 
tation,  and  personal  appearance,  in  France,  we  may  cite 
the  testimony  of  an  eminent  French  writer,  who  repre 
sents  him  as  accomplishing  the  objects  of  his  mission,  not 
so  much  by  direct  negotiation  with  the  court,  as  by  the 
impression  he  made  on  the  public  mind  ;  for  while  diplo 
matic  etiquette  allowed  only  occasional  interviews  with 
ministers  of  state,  he  was  in  constant  intercourse  with  all 
who  were  distinguished  for  genius,  learning,  or  social  in 
fluence,  and  who  swayed  political  opinion.  "  In  him," 
says  Lacretelle,  the  writer  alluded  to,  "men  imagined 
they  saw  a  sage  of  antiquity,  come  back  to  give  austere 
lessons  arid  generous  examples  to  the  moderns.  They 
personified  in  him  the  republic  of  which  he  was  the  rep- 


454  LIFE     OP    RENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

reseu tative.  They  regarded  his  virtues  as  those  of  his 
countrymen;  and  even  judged  of  their  physiognomy  by 
the  imposing  and  serene  traits  of  his  own.  This  venera 
ble  man,  they  said,  joined  to  the  demeanor  of  Phocion 
the  spirit  of  Socrates."  To  this  vivid  sketch  of  the  im 
pression  made  on  French  susceptibilities,  by  the  rare 
combination  of  great  talents  and  splendid  reputation, 
with  the  simple  yet  dignified  manners,  plain  garb,  and 
paternal  aspect  of  the  venerable  representative  of  the 
new-born  nation,  the  same  writer  adds  :  "  After  this  pic 
ture,  it  would  be  useless  to  trace  the  history  of  Frank 
lin's  negotiations  with  the  court  of  France.  His  virtues 
and  his  renown  negotiated  for  him ;  and  before  the  sec 
ond  year  of  his  mission  had  expired,  no  one  conceived  it 
possible  to  refuse  fleets  and  an  army  to  the  compatriots 
of  Franklin." 

Congress  had  sent  with  Franklin  a  draught  of  a  com 
mercial  treaty,  which  he  had  himself,  no  doubt,  helped 
to  frame,  inasmuch  as  he  was  early  placed  on  a  com 
mittee  of  that  body,  for  the  purpose  of  framing  the 
model  of  such  a  treaty,  and  besides  offering  it  to  the  ac 
ceptance  of  the  French  cabinet,  the  commissioners  were 
instructed  to  apply  for  eight  ships-of-the-line  fully  manned 
and  equipped ;  to  purchase  arms  and  other  warlike  stores  ; 
to  fit  out  armed  cruisers  in  the  French  ports,  with  the 
permission  of  the  government;  and  to  sound  the  repre 
sentatives  at  Paris  of  other  European  cabinets,  respect 
ing  their  recognition  of  the  independence  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  establishment  of  commercial  relations 
with  them.  The  expenses  of  the  commissioners  and  the 
fulfilment  of  their  contracts  were  to  be  provided  for  by 
shipments  of  produce. 

When  the  commissioners  first  met  in  Paris,  the  French 
court  were  not  quite  ready  to  take  part  with  their  coun 
try  openly.  The  principal  reason  for  this  hesitancy 


POLICY  OP  THE  FRENCH  CABINET.         455 

seems  to  have  been  the  fact  that  it  would  instantly  pro 
duce  war  with  Great  Britain,  for  which  France,  it  was 
said,  had  not  yet  made  sufficient  preparation  ;  and  al 
though  the  counts  de  Vergennes  and  Maurepas,  regarded 
as  the  two  most  influential  members  of  the  French  cabi 
net,  held  that  the  interests  of  France  demanded  such  a 
war,  and  that  it  would  be  unwise  to  neglect  the  opportu 
nity  now  offered  to  embark  in  it,  yet  some  of  their  col 
leagues  thought  differently,  and  the  king  himself,  it  is 
stated,  was  reluctant  to  give  it  his  sanction.  Besides, 
not  a  little  doubt  was  still  entertained  respecting  the 
general  sentiments  of  the  American  people.  They  had 
not  yet,  it  was  urged,  given  sufficient  evidence  of  their 
firmness,  or  their  determination  to  persevere,  at  all  haz 
ards,  in  maintaining  the  position  they  had  taken  ;  the  re 
verses  and  misfortunes  of  the  campaign  of  1776,  which 
had  just  closed  with  but  gloomy  prospects  for  the  future, 
might  have  broken  their  spirit  and  crushed  their  hopes, 
or  at  least  have  so  far  changed  their  views  as  to  induce 
them,  upon  some  concessions  from  the  British  govern 
ment,  to  return  to  their  former  connection  ;  and  that  it 
would  be  exceedingly  imprudent  in  France  to  commit 
herself  prematurely  to  a  cause  thus  doubtfully  situated. 

But,  with  all  this  caution  and  seeming  hesitancy,  the 
French  cabinet  had  determined  to  assist  the  United 
States,  and  had,  accordingly,  soon  after  Mr.  Deane's  ar 
rival  at  Paris  in  the  preceding  July,  advanced  a  million 
livres  from  the  royal  treasury.  This,  however,  was  dune 
privately,  by  placing  the  money  in  the  hands  of  M.  Beau- 
marchais,  who,  in  concert  with  Mr.  Deane,  made  large 
shipments  of  military  stores  to  America. 

Such  was  the  position  of  things,  when,  on  the  28th  of 
December,  1776,  seven  days  after  Franklin  reached 
Paris,  Count  de  Vergennes,  the  minister  of  foreign  af 
fairs,  gave  the  American  commissioners  their  first  audi- 


456  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

ence  at  Versailles.  After  an  interview  every  way  grat 
ifying,  they  left  with  the  count  a  copy  of  the  treaty  they 
had  been  directed  to  propose  ;  and,  at  his  request,  a  me 
morial  was  delivered  to  him  a  few  days  afterward,  drawn 
up  by  Franklin,  and  exhibiting  the  state  of  affairs  in 
America,  the  sentiments  of  the  people,  the  resources  of 
the  country,  the  value  of  her  commerce,  and  the  views 
of  Congress. 

Though  the  application  for  ships-of-the-line  was  not 
complied  with,  yet  a  further  sum  of  two  million  livres, 
to  be  drawn  quarterly,  was  soon  placed,  in  the  same 
private  manner  as  before,  at  the  disposal  of  the  commis 
sioners,  with  the  intimation  that  repayment  was  not  ex 
pected  till  after  the  war ;  and  they  wrere  also  permitted 
to  make  a  special  contract  with  the  farmers-general  of 
the  revenue  for  another  million,  to  be  met  by  remittances 
of  tobacco.  The  money  thus  furnished  was  expended  in 
purchasing  and  sending  to  America  clothing,  arms,  and 
other  munitions  of  war,  and  in  refitting  American  cruis 
ers.  Those  cruisers,  moreover,  brought  many  prizes  into 
French  ports,  the  sale  of  which  was  winked  at,  till  the 
British  embassador  remonstrated  against  it ;  and  then, 
although  the  commissioners  were  gravely  admonished  on 
the  subject,  and  put  to  some  trouble  in  detaining  vessels 
ready  to  sail  with  stores  for  America,  or  in  transferring 
their  lading  to  other  vessels,  yet  this  interposition  was 
not  so  peremptory  as  materially  to  impede  the  despatch 
of  supplies. 

In  March,  1777,  Franklin  received  from  Congress  a 
commission  as  minister  to  Spain.  A  little  money  had 
been  secretly  obtained  in  that  quarter ;  but,  on  learning 
from  the  Spanish  embassador  at  Pans  that  the  court  of 
Spain,  though  friendly,  was  not  yet  disposed  to  appear 
in  open  alliance  with  the  United  States,  he  deferred  act 
ing  under  his  new  commission  further  than  to  communi- 


TREATIES    WITH    FRANCE.  457 

cate  to  that  court,  through  its  ambassador,  the  fact  of  his 
appointment  and  the  main  articles  of  the  treaty  he  was 
instructed  to  propose,  which  contemplated  a  triple  alli 
ance  for  repairing  the  losses  of  Spain  and  France  in  the 
previous  war,  by  restoring  to  the  former  her  footing  in 
Florida,  and  to  the  latter  her  possessions  in  the  West 
Indies,  while  the  United  States  were  to  secure  their  in 
dependence  and  the  free  navigation  of  the  Mississippi. 

The  results  of  the  campaign  of  1777  in  America,  how 
ever,  put  an  end  to  the  reserve  and  hesitancy  of  the 
French  court,  and  changed  the  aspect  of  negotiation. 
The  news  of  Burgoyne's  surrender  reached  Paris  early 
in  December;  and  on  the  6th  of  February,  1778,  the  in 
dependence  of  the  United  States  was  acknowledged,  and 
two  treaties,  one  of  amity  and  commerce  and  the  other 
of  alliance,  were  signed  at  Versailles  by  the  French  min 
ister  and  the  American  commissioners.  Writing  a  few 
days  after  to  a  friend  in  America,  to  congratulate  him  on 
the  completion  of  the  treaties,  Franklin  says  of  the  for 
mer,  that  it  was  framed  "  on  the  plan  proposed  by  Con 
gress,  with  some  good  additions;"  and  of  the  latter,  that 
it  "  guaranties  to  the  United  States  their  sovereignty  and 
independence  absolute  and  unlimited,  with  all  the  pos 
sessions  they  may  have  at  the  close  of  the  war,"  while 
they  "  guaranty  in  return  the  possessions  of  France  in  the 
West  Indies ;"  and  that  "  the  great  principle  in  both  is  a 
perfect  equality  and  reciprocity  :  no  advantage  to  be  de 
manded  by  France,  or  privileges  in  commerce,  which  the. 
States  may  not  grant  to  any  and  every  other  nation." 

As  the  execution  of  the  treaties  drew  after  it,  of  course, 
the  official  and  public  recognition  of  the  American  com 
missioners  in  their  diplomatic  character,  they  were,  on 
the  20th  of  March,  presented  in  due  form  to  the  king, 
and  were  received  thenceforward  at  the  French  court  as 
the  representatives  of  a  sovereign  state.  The  presenta- 
39 


458  LIFE    OP    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

tion  of  no  embassador  of  royalty,  however  splendid  in 
garb  and  retinue,  could  have  produced  a  sensation  so 
lively  as  that  which  accompanied  on  this  occasion  the  plain 
republican  envoy  Benjamin  Franklin.  "  His  straight,  un- 
powdered  hair,"  says  Madame  Campan  —  "his  round 
hat,  and  his  brown  cloth  coat,  formed  a  singular  con 
trast  with  the  laced  and  embroidered  coats,  and  pow 
dered  and  perfumed  heads  of  the  courtiers  of  Versailles." 
And  another  French  writer  in  describing  the  scene  says  : 
"  His  age,  his  venerable  aspect,  the  simplicity  of  his 
dress,  everything  fortunate  and  remarkable  in  his  life, 
contributed  to  excite  public  attention.  The  clapping  of 
hands  and  other  expressions  of  joy  indicated  that  warmth 
of  enthusiasm  which  the  French  are  more  susceptible  of 
than  any  other  people,  and  the  charm  of  which  is  en 
hanced  to  the  object  of  it  by  their  politeness  and  agreea 
ble  manners.  After  his  audience  he  crossed  the  courtyard 
on  his  way  to  the  office  of  the  minister  of  foreign  affairs. 
The  multitude  waited  for  him  in  the  passage,  and  greeted 
him  with  acclamations  ;  and  he  met  with  a  similar  re 
ception  wherever  he  appeared  in  Paris." 

The  execution  of  the  treaties  was  quickly  followed  by 
the  appointment  of  M.  Gerard  embassador  from  the  court 
of  France  to  the  United  States,  who  sailed  in  April  with 
a  fleet  under  Count  d'Estaing,  with  whom  also  Mr.  Deane, 
who  had  been  replaced  by  John  Adams,  returned  to 
America.  The  new  alliance,  moreover,  together  with 
the  existing  aspect  of  the  war,  so  far  influenced  the  Brit 
ish  ministers,  that  they  sent  out  commissioners  to  the 
United  States,  with  professions  of  a  sincere  desire  to  re 
store  harmony  between  the  two  countries,  upon  terms 
advantageous  to  both.  But,  however  willing  they  may 
have  been  to  escape  from  a  costly  and  odious  war,  it  was 
evident  that  their  notions  of  justice,  of  American  rights 
and  British  supremacy,  were  little  improved.  Indeed, 


BRITISH    AGENTS.  459 

the  only  propositions  they  had  to  offer  were  so  leavened 
with  the  old  ideas  of  royal  prerogative  and  parliamentary 
omnipotence,  as  to  be  wholly  inadmissible;  and  they 
served  rather  to  exasperate  than  reconcile  those  to  whom 
they  were  addressed. 

Besides  this  formal  mission  to  Congress,  various  efforts 
were  made,  on  the  part  of  the  British  ministry,  by  the 
employment  of  secret  emissaries,  to  entangle  Franklin 
in  private  negotiation,  and  thus  through  him  to  embroil 
his  country  with  the  French  court  by  exciting  suspicion 
and  sowing  dissension.  But  Franklin's  sagacity  at  once 
detected  the  motive  of  these  movements ;  while  his 
straight-forward  sincerity,  his  steadfast  integrity,  and  his 
close  intimacy  with  the  French  minister,  between  whom 
and  himself,  so  far  as  the  interests  of  America  were  con 
cerned,  there  were  no  secrets,  baffled  every  effort  to  pro 
duce  jealousy,  or  to  weaken  in  the  slightest  degree  the 
confidence  they  reposed  in  each  other.  Indeed,  the  wisdom 
and  sound  policy  of  perfect  frankness,  and  scorn  of  every 
thing  like  intrigue,  was  never  more  triumphantly  vindi 
cated,  in  diplomatic  intercourse,  than  by  the  influence 
which  Franklin  acquired  in  the  court  of  France. 

Of  all  these  clandestine  attempts  to  draw  Franklin 
into  the  schemes  of  British  intrigue,  the  most  remarka 
ble,  alike  for  profligacy  and  folly,  was  made  by  a  person, 
doubtless  an  Englishman,  but  who  styled  himself  Charles 
de  Weissenstein,  in  along  communication,  dated  at  Brus 
sels  in  July,  1778,  but  written  probably  in  Paris.  He 
attempted  to  intimidate,  by  magnifying  the  power  of 
Great  Britain  ;  to  bribe,  by  presenting  the  prospect  of 
honors  and  wealth ;  and  to  propitiate,  by  professions  of 
personal  admiration  and  reverence.  He  insisted  that  no 
British  ministry  would  ever  recognise  the  independence 
of  the  United  States,  and  that  the  war  therefore  would 
be  continued  till  America  was  ruined.  To  prevent  the 


460  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

unavailing  waste  of  life  and  treasure,  he  proposed  a  plan 
of  conciliation  and  government,  which,  though  it  asserted 
the  unlimited  authority  of  Parliament  over  the  colonies, 
would,  for  the  sake  of  peace  and  commerce,  make  such 
concessions  in  regard  to  the  exercise  of  that  authority  as 
would  be  equitable  and  satisfactory ;  and  the  rewards 
which  Franklin,  Washington,  and  the  other  leading  Amer 
ican  patriots,  were  to  receive,  for  restoring  peace  and  hap 
piness  to  their  country  and  prosperity  to  the  British  em 
pire,  were  places,  pensions,  and  peerages.  This  scheme 
of  treachery  and  corruption  bore  so  many  tokens  of  min 
isterial  origin,  that  Franklin  condescended  to  reply  to  it, 
for  the  purpose  of  exposing  the  folly  of  the  plan  of  gov 
ernment  it  set  forth,  and  he  treated  the  proffered  honors 
with  cutting  sarcasm  and  contemptuous  derision.  This 
reply  closed  the  correspondence  with  M.  Charles  de  Weis- 
senstein. 

Besides  these  secret  agents,  others  in  England,  of  a 
different  class,  the  personal  friends  of  Franklin,  men  of 
probity  and  honor,  opposed  to  the  measures  which  brought 
on  the  war,  and,  still  faithful  to  their  principles,  pressed 
him  in  their  letters  for  propositions  which  might,  in  his 
judgment,  serve  as  a  basis  for  overtures  of  peace,  and  a 
settlement  of  the  points  in  controversy,  on  terms  consist- 
'entwith  the  honor  of  all,  and  advantageous  to  both  coun 
tries.  The  most  assiduous  and  persevering  of  these  cor 
respondents  was  David  Hartley,  a  member  of  Parlia 
ment,  a  sensible,  intelligent,  benevolent  man,  whose  mo 
tives  Franklin  knew  to  be  pure,  and  who  sought  only  the 
public  good.  But  neither  Mr.  Hartley  nor,  indeed,  any 
other  Englishman,  could  fully  comprehend  the  true  posi 
tion  and  interests  of  the  United  States,  or  the  extent  to 
which  their  people  had  been  injured  and  alienated  by 
the  acts  and  agents  of  the  British  government ;  and  all 
his  plans  of  pacification  involved  so  many  of  the  old 


RECOMMENDATIONS LAFAYETTE.  461 

views  of  colonial  dependence  and  British  supremacy  as 
to  be  wholly  inadmissible.  Franklin  laid  open  these  ob 
jections  in  perfect  good  temper  toward  his  friend,  but  in 
the  most  explicit  terms,  and  showed  him  that  the  British 
government  could  have  peace  and  commerce  with  the 
United  States  only  as  with  a  sovereign  and  independent 
nation,  and  on  terms  of  entire  reciprocity.  But  though 
Mr.  Hartley  found  his  efforts  to  move  Franklin  from  his 
position  in  reference  to  this  subject  wholly  unavailing, 
yet  it  is  due  to  him  to  state  that,  at  Franklin's  request, 
he  inquired  into  the  condition  of  American  prisoners  in 
England,  and  not  only  applied  such  money  as  Franklin 
was  able  to  send  over  for  their  relief,  but  collected  among 
his  acquaintances  other  sums  for  the  same  benevolent 
purpose,  and  was  active  and  serviceable  in  facilitating 
their  exchange. 

In  September,  1778,  to  avoid  the  needless  expense  of 
three  commissioners  in  France,  Congress  appointed 
Franklin  sole  minister,  and  Mr.  Adams  returned  home, 
leaving  Mr.  Lee,  the  other  commissioner,  still  in  Europe. 

Almost  immediately  on  Franklin's  arrival  at  Paris  he 
had  been  beset  with  applications  for  letters  in  behalf  of 
military  men  of  every  rank  and  character,  from  almost 
every  corner  of  Europe,  seeking  service  in  America. 
These  applications  were  so  zealously  pressed  by  such 
an  array  of  recommendations,  that  Franklin's  good-nature 
led  him,  in  the  outset,  to  a  somewhat  overready  compli 
ance  ;  and  though  he  soon  perceived  the  necessity  of  cau 
tion,  yet  the  annoyance  continued  during  the  whole  war. 
He  assisted,  however,  in  commending  to  the  good-will 
and  respect  of  Congress  and  of  Washington  one  person 
who  never  gave  cause  to  regret  the  confidence  reposed  in 
him  —  the  then  young  marquis  de  Lafayette.  This  name, 
it  is  true,  now  stands  in  history  on  a  page  of  light,  and  any 
tribute  to  it  here  is  superfluous.  Still,  it  is  pleasant  to 
39* 


462  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

look  back  at  the  first  public  notice  of  one  whose  memory 
is  enshrined  in  every  American  heart.  "  He  is  gone  to 
America,"  says  Franklin,  "  in  a  ship  of  his  own,  accom 
panied  by  several  officers  of  distinction,  to  serve  in  our 
armies.  He  is  exceedingly  beloved ;  and  we  are  satis 
fied  that  the  respect  which  may  be  shown  him  will  be 
serviceable  to  our  affairs  here,  by  pleasing  not  only  his 
powerful  relations  and  the  court,  but  the  whole  French 
nation." 

At  that  early  period,  Congress  not  having  yet  organ 
ized  a  consular  system,  numberless  transactions  arising 
from  the  details  of  commerce,  or  connected  with  the  dis 
posal  of  prizes  taken  at  sea,  and  with  the  fitting  out  of 
cruisers  in  French  ports  —  matters  usually  managed  by 
consuls  —  devolved  on  Franklin,  and,  added  to  his  more 
exclusively  diplomatic  duties,  subjected  him  to  a  much 
greater  amount  of  labor  than  is  demanded  of  an  Ameri 
can  plenipotentiary  in  these  more  systematic  times.  This 
is  made  very  manifest  in  his  correspondence  with  Con 
gress,  through  the  successive  presidents  of  that  body  and 
its  committee  on  foreign  affairs.  This  correspondence 
not  only  shows  how  assiduously,  and  with  what  patriotic 
solicitude  as  well  as  ability,  he  watched  over  the  great 
interests  committed  to  his  charge,  but  it  demonstrates, 
as  we  believe  any  candid  reader,  after  an  attentive  peru 
sal  of  it,  will  admit,  that  no  other  man  could  have  pro 
moted  those  interests  so  effectually,  or  have  secured  for 
his  country  so  much  aid  from  France,  or  so  much  respect 
and  good-will  throughout  Europe,  as  did  Franklin.  In 
deed,  from  his  first  appearance  at  Paris,  in  a  diplomatic 
capacity,  he  may  well  be  said  to  have  been  substantially 
the  representative  of  the  United  States,  not  only  to  the 
French  court,  but  to  all  the  courts  of  continental  Europe. 
And  this  resulted,  not  merely  from  the  fact  that  the  court 
of  France  was  the  great  wheel,  as  Arthur  Lee  called  it, 


HIS    MODESTY    AND    SENSE    OF    RIGHT.  463 

which  moved  the  courts  of  other  nations,  but  it  was  also 
in  no  small  degree  the  natural  consequence  of  Franklin's 
great  name  and  European  reputation  —  of  the  universal 
homage  paid  to  him  for  his  splendid  career  in  philoso 
phy,  and  the  distinguished  ability  and  manly  boldness 
with  which  he  had,  while  colonial  agent  in  London,  de 
fined  and  asserted  the  political  rights  of  the  American 
people,  and  resisted  the  aggressions  of  the  British  gov 
ernment  upon  their  liberties. 

The  general  estimation  of  Franklin  in  Europe,  not  only 
as  a  philosopher,  nor  merely  as  one  among  many  faithful 
and  illustrious  assertors  of  the  liberties  of  his  countrymen, 
but  as  pre-eminently  the  founder  of  their  freedom,  can 
not  be  more  strikingly  exemplified  than  by  the  following 
incident :  An  artist  in  Paris,  having  designed  an  engra 
ving  to  commemorate  the  independence  of  the  United 
States,  submitted  his  design  to  Franklin's  inspection  and 
proposed  to  dedicate  it  to  him.  The  principal  symbol 
in  the  piece  was,  it  seems,  the  figure  of  Franklin  in  the 
garb  of  a  Roman  senator,  with  his  name  inscribed  be 
neath.  To  this  he  promptly  and  flatly  refused  his  assent, 
because  it  ascribed  to  him  exclusively  the  freedom  of 
America,  and  he  insisted  that  the  figure  should  be  made  to 
symbolize  Congress,  and  the  print  be  dedicated  to  that 
body ;  for,  otherwise,  said  he  in  a  note  to  the  artist,  "  it 
would  be  unjust  to  the  numbers  of  wise  and  brave  men 
who,  by  their  arms  and  counsels,  have  shared  in  the  en 
terprise  and  contributed  to  its  success,  at  the  hazard  of 
their  lives  and  fortunes."  Such  were  the  modesty,  mag 
nanimity,  and  living  sense  of  justice,  of  Franklin. 

The  elevation  and  generosity  of  his  nature,  indeed,  his 
true  wisdom,  were  well  illustrated  by  his  sentiments  in 
regard  to  privateering,  against  the  toleration  of  which 
he  expressed  himself  in  the  strongest  terms,  and  proposed 
that  the  nations  of  Europe  should  combine  to  put  it  down 


464  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

by  express  stipulations  in  their  treaties  with  each  other; 
and,  as  a  further  extension  of  the  same  humane  policy, 
demanded  by  the  whole  spirit  of  Christian  civilization, 
he  also  proposed  that,  in  war  as  in  peace,  all  people,  to 
whatever  country  they  might  belong,  belligerent  or  neu 
tral,  while  engaged  by  land  or  sea  in  producing  or  trans 
porting  food  or  anything  else  needed  for  the  support  and 
comfort  of  life,  or  the  advancement  of  peaceful  pursuits, 
should  remain  unmolested.  Both  these  principles  should, 
he  held,  be  incorporated  into  the  general  law  of  nations, 
not  only  as  being  alike  humane  and  just  toward  the  indi 
viduals  and  families  directly  affected  by  them,  but  as  be 
ing  certain  also  to  lessen  the  frequency  of  war  by  destroy 
ing  the  hope  of  plunder. 

Similar  proofs  of  his  philanthropy  and  abhorrence  of 
rapine  and  violence  in  every  form,  were  furnished  in  the 
passports  which,  as  minister  plenipotentiary,  he  issued, 
to  protect  from  American  cruisers  the  vessels  annually 
sent  from  England,  with  food  and  other  supplies  for  the 
Moravian  settlements  on  the  coast  of  Labrador  ;  and  in 
doing  the  same  thing  for  the  vessels  under  the  celebrated 
navigator  Captain  James  Cook,  who  had,  before  the  war, 
been  sent  on  a  voyage  of  discovery,  and  was  supposed 
to  be  now  on  his  way  home.  No  man  ever  possessed  in 
larger  measure  than  Franklin  the  desire  to  encourage 
every  enterprise  to  advance  knowledge,  diffuse  the  spirit 
of  benevolence,  and  liberalize  the  policy  of  governments  ; 
and  the  last-named  act  of  magnanimous  humanity  drew 
from  the  English  board  of  trade  a  vote  of  acknowledgment, 
together  with  an  elegant  copy  of  Cook's  Voyages,  and 
the  splendid  collection  of  plates  belonging  to  it,  accom 
panied  by  a  courteous  letter  from  Lord  Howe,  stating 
that  the  gift  was  made  with  the  king's  approbation. 

A  few  days  after  reaching  Paris,  Franklin  took  up  his 
residence  at  Passy,  some  two  or  three  miles  out  of  the 


HIS    RESIDENCE    AT    PASSY.  465 

city,  and  overlooking  the  river  Seine.  There,  as  he 
wrote  to  an  old  friend,  "  in  a  fine  house,  in  a  neat  vil 
lage,  on  high  ground,  with  a  large  garden  to  walk  in," 
he  dwelt  during  the  whole  of  his  mission  to  France.  It 
was  a  pleasant  situation,  and  among  his  neighbors  were 
several  families  of  great  respectability  and  worth,  where 
he  soon  became  a  cherished  and  honored  inmate,  and 
where  he  enjoyed  habitual  intercourse  with  a  large  circle 
comprising  many  of  the  most  cultivated,  distinguished, 
and  agreeable  people  of  both  sexes,  that  French  society 
could  furnish.  At  Passy  he  wrote  several  of  his  best 
tracts  on  political  topics,  besides  several  valuable  papers 
on  philosophical  subjects,  particularly  one,  which  was 
read  before  the  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences  at  Paris,  on 
the  aurora  borealis,  stating  his  reasons  for  supposing  that 
splendid  phenomenon  to  be  a  result  of  electrical  action. 
At  Passy,  too,  he  wrote,  for  the  entertainment  of  the  cir 
cle  of  friends  just  mentioned,  some  of  his  most  sprightly 
and  instructive  humorous  pieces,  among  which  were  "  The 
Whistle,"  "  The  Ephemera,"  "  The  Morals  of  Chess," 
and  others.  The  hospitality,  affectionate  respect,  and  at 
tention,  he  received  from  the  families  referred  to,  soothed 
him  under  his  increasing  infirmities,  and  cheered  him  un 
der  the  heavy  burden  of  his  varied  and  laborious  public 
duties. 

The  details  of  his  diplomatic  labors  are  far  too  volu 
minous  to  be  recounted  here.  History  has  taken  charge 
of  them ;  and  it  is  enough  to  say,  in  this  place,  that,  mul 
tiplied,  burdensome,  and  important,  as  they  were,  he  per 
formed  them  with  the  ability  and  fidelity  which  charac 
terized  his  long  career  of  public  service,  and  with  a  skill 
and  success  which  won  for  him  the  spontaneous  testimony 
alike  of  the  firm  and  clear-headed  John  Jay,  then  minis 
ter  to  Spain,  and  of  the  enlightened  and  high-minded 
count  de  Vergennes,  the  French  secretary.  Congress, 


466  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

also,  declined  complying  with  his  request,  made  in  March, 
1781,  to  be  recalled,  and  placed  him  shortly  after  on  the 
commission  with  Adams,  Jay,  and  Laurens,  to  negotiate 
peace,*  overtures  for  which  were  first  made  on  the  part 
of  the  British  cabinet  in  January,  1782  ;  and,  after  a  pro 
tracted  negotiation,  a  preliminary  treaty,  recognising  the 
independence  of  the  United  States  and  fixing  their  bound 
aries,  was  signed  in  November  of  the  same  year ;  and  a 
further  negotiation,  for  the  settlement  of  other  matters, 
terminated  in  a  definitive  treaty,  substantially  the  same 
as  the  other,  and  executed  at  Paris,  September  3,  1783. 

The  independence  and  sovereignty  of  the  United  States 
being  thus  established,  Mr.  Jay  returned  home,  and  Mr. 
Jefferson  was  sent  out  to  act  with  Franklin  and  Adams 
in  the  negotiation  of  treaties  with  other  nations.  But 
though  the  cabinets  of  Europe,  through  their  embassa- 
dors  at  Paris,  expressed  a  disposition  to  maintain  ami 
cable  relations  with  the  United  States,  no  treaty  was  ac 
tually  made  except  with  Prussia.  This  treaty  gave  its 
sanction  to  Franklin's  doctrine  against  privateering  and 
the  spoliation  of  private  property  ;  and  putting  his  signa 
ture  to  it  was  his  last  act  as  the  diplomatic  representa 
tive  of  his  country. 

Franklin  left  Paris  on  the  12th  of  July,  1785.  His  de 
parture  was  accompanied  by  the  most  expressive  testi 
monials  of  regret  from  the  court  as  well  as  from  a  nu 
merous  train  of  private  friends,  including  men  of  the 
hio-hest  rank  and  most  eminent  worth  :  and  on  the  14th 

O 

of  September  he  found  himself  once  more  in  Philadel 
phia.  His  return  was  greeted  with  every  mark  of  per 
sonal  regard  and  public  respect.  The  Assembly  of  Penn 
sylvania,  then  sitting,  addressed  him  as  one  "  whose  ser 
vices  not  only  merited  the  thanks  of  the  present  genera 
tion,  but  would  be  recorded  in  history  to  his  immortal 
honor ;"  and  other  public  bodies  paid  him  similar  tributes. 


HIS    LAST    YEARS    AND    DEATH.  467 

He  was  now  rapidly  approaching  the  end  of  his  eigh 
tieth  year,  and  was  looking  only  for  repose,  exempt,  for 
the  remainder  of  his  days,  from  all  further  public  cares. 
But  he  could  not,  even  yet,  be  allowed  to  retire.  Very 
shortly  after  his  return  the  Assembly  and  executive  coun 
cil  of  Pennsylvania  elected  him  governor  of  the  state  for 
the  ensuing  year  ;  and  the  choice  was  renewed  for  three 
years  in  succession,  which  was  as  long  as  the  constitution 
permitted,  till  after  an  interval  of  four  years. 

His  domestic  situation  and  the  occupation  of  his  pri 
vate  hours  might  be  beautifully  depicted  by  many  ex 
tracts  from  his  own  letters  written  in  the  brief  period 
still  left  to  him.  A  few  words,  however,  will  give  the 
spirit  of  the  whole.  He  lived  in  his  own  house,  with  his 
daughter  and  her  children  about  him  to  gratify  his  affec 
tions  ;  with  conversation,  books,  and  his  garden,  to  recre 
ate  him;  and  with  the  unalterable  esteem  of  his  country 
to  crown  his  long  toils  in  her  service ;  and  though  con 
scious  that  his  life  on  earth  must  soon  close,  yet  he  wrote 
to  a  venerable  friend  —  "  I  can  cheerfully,  with  filial  con 
fidence,  resign  my  spirit  to  that  great  and  good  Parent 
of  mankind  who  created  it,  and  who  has  so  graciously 
protected  and  prospered  me  from  my  birth  to  the  present 
hour."  It  was  in  this  spirit  that,  in  the  federal  conven 
tion  of  1787  —  the  last  national  body  in  which  he  sat  — 
he  moved  to  open  its  daily  sittings  with  prayer,  declaring 
that  the  longer  he  lived  the  more  proofs  he  saw  of  God's 
government  in  human  affairs. 

Similar  sentiments  abound  in  his  letters,  but  the  most 
formal  statement  of  them  is  given  in  his  reply,  on  this 
subject,  in  March,  1790,  to  President  Stiles,  of  Yale  col 
lege.  There  he  explicitly  states  his  belief  in  God,  as 
creator  and  governor  of  all  things,  and  entitled  to  wor 
ship  ;  in  doing  good  to  each  other  as  our  best  service  to 
him  ;  in  the  immortality  of  die  soul,  and  a  future  state  of 


468  LIFE    OF    BENJAMIN    FRANKLIN. 

retribution  ;  that  while  he  had  some  doubts  of  the  divinity 
of  Jesus,  yet  he  believed  his  system  of  religion  and  mo 
rality  as  left  by  him  the  best  ever  taught ;  and  that  for 
himself  he  relied  solely  on  the  goodness  of  God,  without 
the  slightest  idea  of  meriting  it. 

Useful  to  the  end,  Franklin  gave  his  remaining  strength 
to  the  cause  of  education  and  freedom ;  and  some  of  his 
latest  efforts  were  made  for  the  abolition  of  negro-slavery. 
His  malady,  the  stone,  k'ept  him  for  his  last  year  chiefly 
on  his  bed ;  and  he  continued  thus  till  the  end  of  March, 
1790,  when  he  was  seized  with  severe  pain  in  the  chest 
and  fever,  ending  in  abscess  of  the  lungs,  the  bursting  of 
which  soon  proved  fatal,  and  he  expired  April  17,  1790, 
the  anniversary  of  his  birth-day. 

During  his  severe  sufferings  from  the  pain  in  his  chest, 
when  a  groan  escaped  him,  "  he  would  observe,"  says  his 
physician,  "  that  he  was  afraid  he  did  not  bear  them  as 
he  ought;  acknowledging  his  grateful  sense  of  the  many 
blessings  he  had  received  from  the  Supreme  Being,  who 
had  raised  him  from  small  beginnings  to  such  high  rank 
and  consideration  among  men."  Another  friend,  speak 
ing  of  his  long  confinement,  says  :  "  No  repining,  no 
peevish  expression,  ever  escaped  him ;  and  upon  every 
occasion  he  displayed  the  clearness  of  his  intellect  and 
the  cheerfulness  of  his  temper."  Thus  died  BENJAMIN 
FRANKLIN,  full  of  years  as  of  honors.  Thus  terminated 
a  life  as  remarkable  for  its  early  development  of  the  high 
est  traits  of  character  in  the  midst  of  the  laborious  occu 
pations  of  a  tradesman,  as  for  the  achievements  in  phi 
losophy  and  the  services  to  his  country,  which  rendered 
it  illustrious,  and  which  has  left  the  richest  lessons  of 
wisdom  to  every  succeeding  generation. 

THE     END. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
BERKELEY 


Return  to  desk  from  which  borrowed. 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


8 


2QApr'5SST 
0  195" 


Tl  5W57FC 


30  1357 


19'Jan'5r' 
REC'D  LD 

JAN  16  1959 

9Mar'60B8! 

REC'D  LD 
MAR  i  Q  TOgQ 

«M  ^       IWW^VV 


REC'D  LD 

OCT171960 


;8Jan'63KL 


LD  21-95m-ll,'50(2877sl6)476 


YB  37684 


HUH! 


II 


mm 

•raH 


